Longview Group Seeks Expanded Alcohol Sales

LONGVIEW — A group of citizens has announced the formation of the “Longview United for Growth Committee,” a special purpose political action committee, to ask voters to support limited alcohol sales for Longview’s current boundaries. Longview United for Growth will need to collect approximately 6,000 signatures of registered Longview voters on a petition calling for the election in May 2013.

The petition will allow a vote for the legal sale of beer and wine in stores for off-premise consumption only; it will not allow additional package liquor sales or liquor stores, except those already approved by voters in previous elections. Currently, Longview alcohol sales are based on elections held after Prohibition that legalized alcohol sales on the southern and eastern part of the city to the Gregg-Harrison County line. In 2007, Longview citizens voted to allow mixed beverage alcohol sales in restaurants.

Longview United feels the economic development of northern and western parts of Longview are being hampered because beer/wine off-premise sales are not allowed on most of the Loop 281 northern corridor from approximately Tryon Road East to Harrison Road West. According to Longview United, changing this law would allow those areas to be able to recruit more supermarkets and grocery stores, allow the existing grocery stores to compete with stores in the “wet” area, and would also bring east Longview under the same rules. You can go to http://longviewwins.com to learn more. Thus far, no group has announced opposition to Longview United’s effort.