DEAR EDITOR:
The city of Warren has been trying to revoke the liquor licenses of several current businesses at various locations around town because of fights, drugs, etc., while at the same time it is trying to get, if I remember correctly, 16 new liquor licenses to stimulate business downtown.
By what reasoning does the city assume that the new businesses will not be subject to the same problems as those now operating? Will the new businesses miraculously draw a completely new clientele? Will bars in the downtown attract a "better class" of drinker? Are more people who are under the influence of alcohol all that Warren needs to bring it back to its former glory?
I don't go to downtown Warren anymore than I have to because I worry about parking on the street. If I were to be checked in the morning when I was at the title office and then later wanted to stop at a store in the afternoon, I could be ticketed for overtime parking more than two hours apart. I might have been 15 minutes at each place, but that doesn't matter. I think it ludicrous, but that is your law. The free parking may be a 10 minute walk away from each location.
Nine times out of 10, if I go to the downtown area of Warren, it is to go to the library and / or the flea market. Both have their own adjacent free parking and things I use regularly.
Jim Barry
Gustavus