Study: Every Detroiter less than a mile from booze

[Gistok]

I like the people who preach about "keeping drugs off our streets" don't have a problem with liquor stores everywhere selling alcohol, which is a drug. I love double standards.

Funny you mention preaching.... it seems on a lot of threads you like "preaching to the Choir"....

[rjk]

Is .7 miles suppose to be shocking?
Detroit is still considered an urban area?

What next, someone is going to say that everyone in Detroit is a short walk to the nearest street?

[Detroitnerd]

Well, honestly, I don't know what the implications of the research are, other than Detroit having a lot of liquor sales licenses and an apparently robust number of drinkers. Some of the most successful neighborhoods in the United States have lots of sales licenses, for instance.

[kryptonite]

It seems like often the prohibitionists are the same people that opposed legalized gambling. Vices will never go away, no matter what amount of law enforcement is used to eradicate them. Legalize them and tax them.

I argued in favor of casino gambling in Detroit many years ago with a friend who insisted that among other things casinos result in increased crime. I told her "God forbid crime should come to Detroit". Same with alcohol, Prohibition proved that making it illegal would not eradicate alcohol consumption. I had an aunt who lived in a dry county in Alabama and was a problem drinker, regardless of the fact that she had to drive to Mississippi to get her supplies.

Bottom line - who cares that there are so many liquor stores and bars in Detroit. Nobody is forced to use them.

[GPCharles]

1. I have always lived in an urban setting.
2. I have lived in multiple locations in multiple states.
3. I am over 50 years old.
4. I have never lived farther than 1 mile from a bar of liquor store.
5. SO WHAT!

[RYANGUARD]

When I lived in Wyandotte in the late 80s-early 90s,there were 53 liquor licenses in a 5 square mile city.That was liquor stores and bars,that didn't include stores that just sold beer and wine.There was a house on 10th street,Tavern on 10th,Mavericks on 7th street was in a house,you could sit in what used to be the living room and look down into the bar that was built onto the front and Frankies on 6th Street that sold great fish dinners on the weekends.

[old guy]

There's some interesting drinking data at this site.

http://www.floatingsheep.org/2010/02...f-america.html

[East Detroit]

Every New Yorker is within 2 blocks of liquor.

[East Detroit]

Fascinating research by my friend Robbie Linn, a master's student in urban planning at U-M. What does THIS tell you about our fair city?

Not jack shit. How about some proper research? Compare apples to apples, not a city to suburbs or farmland. Wow. I hope thats just a one-off paper and not part of a thesis. What was the premise? What was the null hypothesis? Oh wait, there's no correlation listed, just some strange implication of.... who knows what. Yet, I'll bet people are already jumping to some cause and effect theories based on... not jack shit.

This just in... there are more brown eyed people per 1,000 in Detroit than in the suburbs, on average. What does THIS tell you about our fair city? Oops. Not jack shit either.

[wolverine]

Not jack shit. How about some proper research? Compare apples to apples, not a city to suburbs or farmland. Wow. I hope thats just a one-off paper and not part of a thesis. What was the premise? What was the null hypothesis? Oh wait, there's no correlation listed, just some strange implication of.... who knows what. Yet, I'll bet people are already jumping to some cause and effect theories based on... not jack shit.

This just in... there are more brown eyed people per 1,000 in Detroit than in the suburbs, on average. What does THIS tell you about our fair city? Oops. Not jack shit either.

As I mentioned above. It was a simple arcGIS exercise. Now go do one yourself and report back to us.

[old guy]

Not jack shit. How about some proper research? Compare apples to apples, not a city to suburbs or farmland. Wow. I hope thats just a one-off paper and not part of a thesis. What was the premise? What was the null hypothesis? Oh wait, there's no correlation listed, just some strange implication of.... who knows what. Yet, I'll bet people are already jumping to some cause and effect theories based on... not jack shit.

This just in... there are more brown eyed people per 1,000 in Detroit than in the suburbs, on average. What does THIS tell you about our fair city? Oops. Not jack shit either.

Or, maybe people are viewing it with an open mind and simply find it interesting.

[n7hn]

People would support less liquor stores with better public transportation to get to the ones left.
Put a bar on that bus, end funding issues, cut down # of party stores, and increase ridership. PERIOD

Looking at some area's on google, It would appear a neighbor may be further than the liquor store.

[DetroitPole]

I'm quite surprised that so few people here find this to be a matter of concern.

The problem between comparing Detroit and essentially any other city in the US is that in Detroit while the proportion of liquor licenses to other cities may be comparable, in Detroit there is virtually NOTHING else for miles. The only business truly prevalent in this city throughout, without exception, is liquor stores. That is a problem.

Combine that with a city plagued by homelessness, violence [[with alcohol, think domestic especially), and substance abuse. Want to really get into it? What about the obesity, heart disease, and cancer rates in this city. God knows virtually everything available in a liquor store contributes to those things.

I'm not saying we should take legislative action or do something to oppose these enterprises. As long as I have lived in the city I have valued living close to a party store. However, why can we not attract other businesses yet these thrive? Why can these liquor stores not act more as corner markets than filthy disgusting pits of booze and junk food? What if these businesses started offering, along with booze and cigarellos, fresh produce, whole wheat bread, and a deli counter? What about healthy grab-and-go food[[think Goodwells) instead of rancid subs and pizza under heat lamps?

I think we can do better. And this is coming from a guy who currently has a beer buzz from a liquor store in Detroit that I walked to.

Oh yeah, for some great neighborhood bars, check out Abick's in Southwest, and Nancy Whiskey has reopened. I think Cadieux qualifies as well. The Polish Yacht Club has limited hours but is also worth checking out. Whisky in the Jar in Hamtramck too. Detroit is fortunate to have these gems, no joke.