dry returns to the heights
Pivotal Houston vote creates first alcohol-free zone around Heights preschool
In 2017, a then-historic vote overturned what many considered an arcane, Prohibition-era ruling that kept the Heights a legally dry zone and alcohol-free area (something area restaurants creatively worked around).
Now, yet another historic vote might again change the landscape of the Houston area famed for its myriad booze-fueled restaurants, bars, and nationally acclaimed lounges.
Houston City Council voted to create a first-of-its-kind, alcohol-free zone around Heights Preschool (2064 Oxford St.) on Wednesday, July 26,
This vote, based on a past proposal, now officially creates a 300-foot perimeter around Heights Preschool banning any alcohol sales within the boundaries. Houston currently enforces alcohol-free zones around certain public schools, churches, and hospitals, but Heights Preschool marks the first day care protected by the city.
Per the City of Houston's Code of Ordinances, the owner of a day care or preschool can request a 300-foot alcohol-free zone, so long as the facility sits in an area deemed 75-percent residential or greater.
"Houston has bars on nearly every other corner, but few safe places for children," Chad Mason addressed council members on Tuesday, July 25 prior to the vote, per Jeff Ehling of CultureMap news partner ABC13. "I am asking you to vote for children's safety and vote for allowing the 300-foot alcohol free zone. All schools currently have this simple ordinance. Why shouldn't 100 vulnerable children of Heights Preschool have the same?"
Kelly Rosin, who owns Heights Preschool, told ABC13's Chaz Miller that she was originally unaware such an option for her school even, and addressed her need to Mayor Sylvester Turner and the city council at a public session. She submitted her application on March 29, Miller reports.
"My biggest concern is the safety of the children," Rosin said at the time of her some 100 students. "A lot of our kids ride bikes, or they're with their families, or are in strollers."
As CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler reported, voters repealed the Heights dry zone in in 2017, reversing a decree that dated back to circa 1912 requiring bars and restaurants to operate as private clubs in order to sell beer, wine, and liquor to diners.
Under the July 26 vote, existing bars, clubs, and liquor stores will be grandfathered in, and new establishments licensed by the state of Texas as restaurants would still be able to serve alcohol in the zone, Miller reports.
However, new bars, clubs, or liquor stores are restricted within the 300-foot perimeter on a busy Heights street. To that end, not all are celebrating vote's passage. Richard Wills of the Gerald Franklin Agency told Miller that this move will set a bad precedent once in effect.
"Texas is the most highly regulated state as far as alcoholic-beverage laws go," he said. "I just don't think, at this time, we need more restrictive measures on the alcohol industry."
