New Joliet Liquor Store Has ZERO Chance Of Approval: City Council

JOLIET, IL — Three men who are urging the city of Joliet to grant them a Class C liquor license so they can open up Osho's Wine & Spirits in a rundown commercial strip mall on South Chicago Street did not receive a warm welcome from Mayor Terry D'Arcy and the Joliet City Council at Monday's pre-council meeting.

The real action takes place on Tuesday when the matter comes up for a vote after 6:30 p.m. The men are proposing Osho's Wine & Spirits at 412-422 South Chicago Street, near the Dunkin' Donuts. Mayor D'Arcy has urged the Council to reject Osho's, noting that there have been 807 police calls for service to the Joliet Police Department in that immediate area where the Osho's is being proposed, including lots of violent crimes.

"This is my District," Joliet City Councilwoman Suzanna Ibarra of District 5 told representatives of Osho's Wine & Spirits during Monday night's meeting. " I want you to know that we got a lot of calls from residents, and neighborhood councils and everyone in the area. There was a 16-year-old kid that was savagely gunned down within walking distance of there. There's a lot of things that that area needs, and a liquor store is not one of them."

One of the men involved in Osho's then told Ibarra that liquor is very common and a custom in the United States, therefore, "if you find those stores on every block, how do you relate, how do you sort those numbers out, that they are related to liquor, or it is more likely to happen due to liquor?"

"Alcohol exacerbates violence, that's a fact," Councilwoman Ibarra responded. "But this isn't rhetorical or about back and forth, I just wanted to make the comments so that you knew that I have gotten a lot of calls on this, and not one of them are positive ... I am just making the statement, so you know. It was way beyond the Mayor. All the residents in this area ... know that liquor exacerbates violence, so thank you."