Look at liquor history

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is proposing a repeal of the city rule that limits the number of bars in the city to two per block. Perhaps before he does so he should review why the rule was passed in the first place. Not many today will remember the 1960s, when the southeast corner of 200 South and West Temple was notorious as "The Corner." Within a quarter block in either direction there were seven licensed alcohol dispensaries. At one time, the habitues of these establishments generated so many complaints that the police were forced to pay overtime to institute a daytime foot patrol just to make the sidewalks safe.

Has the mayor forgotten the infamy of west 200 South, where for years the illicit sex and drug trades were focused around three or four of the seven licensed establishments in the 500 block?

The alcohol industry has been on a roll of late, but this repeal is one revolution too far.

Thomas W. Brown

Murray