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Campaign Launched to Stop California SB 635

 
MEDIA ADVISORY                                                                   
For events occurring April 8, 2013
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CONTACT:   Michael Scippa 415 548-0492
                                                            Jorge Castillo 213 840-3336


Campaign Launched to Stop California SB 635 that Would Extend
Last Call at Bars, Restaurants and Nightclubs to 4 a.m.
 
L.A. City Councilmember Parks Receives Support for His Opposition Resolution


LOS ANGELES, CA (April 5, 2013) – Community organizations concerned with public health and safety have joined the statewide coalition to STOP Leno’s 4 a.m. Bar Bill.  They will be joined by police chiefs and Los Angeles city council members Monday at a Los Angeles City Hall press event to launch their campaign and support Council Member Bernard Parks’ resolution to oppose passage of SB 635. The bill, authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) would make it possible for any California bar, restaurant or nightclub to extend drinking hours from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

What:          Press event and rally 

When:         Monday, April 8, 2013 10:00 AM

Where:       Los Angeles City Hall South Steps (W 1st. St.)

Who:                   
Speakers Include:
  • Bernard Parks, Los Angeles Councilmember Dist. 8, (former L.A. Chief of Police)
  • Richard Alarcón, Los Angeles Councilmember Dist. 7
  • Jorge Castillo, Advocacy Director, Alcohol Justice
  • Ruben Rodriguez, Executive Director, Pueblo y Salud, Inc.,
  • Richard Zaldivar, Founder and Executive Director of The Wall Las Memorias Project
  • Jeanne Shimatsu, Prevention Coordinator AADAP, Inc.
  • Paul Scott, WCTU
  • Sarah Blanch, Institute for Public Strategies
  • Margot Bennett, Executive Director, Women Against Gun Violence
  • Leonard Lee Buschel, Founder Writers in Treatment, & Reel Recovery Film Festival
  • Sara Cooley, MA/MPH, Project Coordinator, P3 Partnership for a Positive Pomona
  • Susan Blauner, Director of Operations, Saving Lives Drug and Alcohol Coalition
  • Dennis Hathaway, President, Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight
  • John O. Whitaker, Jr., CDS, CATC II, President, Paso Por Paso
  • Kevin M. Key, Community Organizer, United Coalition East Prevention Project
  • Crystal Cedillo, Community Organizer Koreatown Youth and Community Center

Why: 
  • Extending hours of on-site alcohol sales into the wee hours of the morning will benefit a few bar, restaurant and nightclub owners, as well as alcohol producers and distributors, while increasing alcohol-related harms and costs at public expense
  • Evidence shows that two more hours of alcohol sales will nearly double alcohol-related violence, crime, police calls, emergency room visits, etc.
  • California already suffers $38.4 billion a year in alcohol-related harm, with local and state governments paying $8 billion annually
  • Alcohol-related deaths in California top 10,000 per year with over 900,000 alcohol-related incidents of harm (crimes, injuries, high-risk sex, etc.)
  • The last time the California alcohol excise tax was increased was in 1992
  • State, city and county public health and safety providers do not have the resources to mitigate the current alcohol-related economic and social harms, so who will cover the damages of two more hours of late-night alcohol consumption?
  • Taxpayers will pick up the bloody tab for Leno's bar bill  


Statewide Coalition Members include:
  • Alcohol Justice
  • Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP)
  • Ban Billboard Blight
  • Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
  • County Alcohol & Drug Program Administrators Association of California (CADPAAC)
  • California Council on Alcohol Problems (CALCAP)
  • California Narcotic Officers Association
  • California Police Chiefs Association
  • Friday Night Live
  • Institute for Public Strategies
  • Lutheran Office of Public Policy California
  • Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood
  • Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca
  • Metro United Methodist Urban Ministry
  • P3 Partnership for a Positive Pomona
  • Paso Por Paso, Inc.
  • Phoenix House
  • Pueblo Y Salud, Inc.
  • People Reaching Out
  • Prevention Institute
  • Social Model Recovery Systems
  • The Wall – Las Memorias Project
  • WCTU
  • Women Against Gun Violence
  • Writers In Treatment
  • Youth Leadership Institute (YLI)
 


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