New Liquor Licensing Rules in North Yakima
The city council implements a neighborhood-consent requirement for new liquor licenses on major thoroughfares.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A new liquor ordinance has been adopted at North Yakima providing that hereafter an application for a liquor license must state where the business is to be carried on. If the applicant desires to carry on his business on Yakima Avenue or First Street, he must present a petition signed by the owners of more than half of the lots in the same block and the opposite block abutting on said street, stating that the owners do not object to the use of such premises for such purposes. The amount of the license remains at $1,000.
“he must present a petition signed by the owners of more than half of the lots in the same block”
This ordinance illustrates the early civic power struggles over 'nuisance' businesses. Requiring neighborhood buy-in for liquor licenses was a common early 20th-century method for residents to assert control over the character of their streets, a precursor to modern zoning and conditional use permits.
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