Compromise on Wine in Grocery Stores Put Forth Lets Liquor Stores Expand Offerings to Food and Supplies

ALBANY, NY (03/27/2009)(readMedia)-- Governor Paterson's proposal to let New York join 35 other states and allow grocery stores to sell wine provides the state with $105 million in new revenue to help close this year's massive budget deficit and avoid additional new or increased taxes, even deeper spending cuts or state worker layoffs, a broad coalition of businesses and advocates said today.

Meanwhile, the liquor lobby is waging an all-out war to kill any sensible compromise - even one that would help liquor stores by expanding what they can sell or improve their ability to grow. In an email Thursday night, the liquor lobby's lobbyist said: "We must stand firm against compromises of any sort."

"This is why New Yorkers are sick of politics, because special interests like the liquor lobby flat out refuse to even come to the table and discuss what's best for all of New York. Their desire to protect their monopoly at the cost of state workers, schools and the poor can only be described as selfish and sad," the Coalition said.

The Coalition is urging state leaders to forge a compromise on the grocery store wine legislation to realize the $160 million in new state revenue over the next two fiscal years, create 2,000 jobs, boost New York's important wine industry and turn the issue into a win-win for the state. For comparison, proposed state job cuts are estimated to save $481 million over two years.

Assembly member Keith L. T. Wright (D-Manhattan) who supports wine in grocery stores, told The New York Times today: "I don't understand why people are so opposed to it. But I think it is gaining momentum in the Assembly and is something that could still possibly go forward."

Assembly member Joseph Morrelle (D-Monroe) told a pro-grocery store wine news conference on Tuesday: "And for those who suggest there aren't ways we can level the playing field, I reject that wholeheartedly. There are plenty of opportunities for us to get together in a modern economy and allow package stores to continue to not only prosper and grow, but give them the opportunities to sell other products. This does not have to be an adversarial situation between wine growers, grocery stores and convenience stores on one side and liquor stores and package stores on the other. We can come together. We should come together to benefit all of us and continue to drive the economy of New York higher and higher."

"This moment should not pass by without updating laws for everyone, including liquor stores" the Coalition said. "The laws date from Prohibition and the Depression and hold New York back."

The Supermarket Wine Coalition includes New York's leading wineries, small businesses, grocery stores and other New Yorkers who would be able to grow jobs if this bill is passed.

The Coalition disputed assertions by the liquor lobby and its allies that Gov. Paterson's bill will have social costs, citing FBI data that show zero correlation between availability of wine in grocery stores and drunk driving or underage access to alcohol.

"Only 4 percent of all DWI incidents are wine-related," the Coalition said, citing an independent study by Dale Berger and John Snortum ("Alcoholic Beverage Preferences of Drinking-Driving Violators, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 46(3), 1985, p.4). "And everybody knows that wine is not the drink of choice for teenagers who want to buy alcohol. While we have great respect for many of those on the other side, their assertions are contradicted by the facts."

In fact, Rick Garza, deputy director of the Liquor Control Board in Washington State, which has permitted supermarkets to sell wine since 1969, told The New York Times this week: "In Washington they (teenagers) drink primarily beer and spirits, not wine. People in the prevention community will tell you that very seldom do we have youth-access issues around wine."

"In California ... specialty wine shops seem to have no problem co-existing with supermarkets selling wine. As for the argument that wine in supermarkets will facilitate underage drinking, it doesn't seem to be true in the states that permit supermarket sales," the Times reported.

Earlier this week, the Coalition delivered more than 70,000 consumer post cards to legislative leaders calling for approval of the grocery store wine bill. Key legislators appeared with the coalition to urge support.

Here are some examples of what $160 million could mean:

• Schools: $160 million is enough to pay the median salary to every teacher in the Albany, Syracuse, and Watertown school districts - 2,568 teachers; $160 million would close the Syracuse City School District's current budget gap of $32 million and provide more than half the funds needed to complete renovating seven of the district's schools.

• Health care: $160 million is enough to allow the State to provide free breast and cervical cancer screenings to at least 65,000 women a year for five years at current costs.

• Social services: $160 million would provide food stamps for more than 25,000 families of three in New York City for one year.

• Public safety: $160 million is more than twice the budget of the Buffalo Police Department; an infusion of that much cash would allow Buffalo to increase the number of officers on the street by 800.

New York is the only major wine producing state that does not allow for the sale of wine in grocery stores. That helps explain New York's diminished leadership in the wine industry in recent years. California and Washington, the number one and two respective wine producing states, have six times as many retail outlets per person than New York.

Thirty-five other states allow wine sales in grocery stores - with no signs that liquor stores have suffered as a result. In fact, there is evidence that wine sales in grocery stores would even benefit liquor stores.

Newspapers across the state supporting wine sales in grocery stores include: Newsday, the New York Post, the Buffalo New, the Syracuse Post-Standard, the Schenectady Gazette, the Albany Times Union, the Watertown Daily Times, the Rochester Business Journal, and Crain's New York Business.

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