ALCOHOL SALES ANGER ACTIVISTS.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

PANORAMA CITY - A new Arco AM/PM station has begun selling beer in a neighborhood already brimming with liquor stores, even though the company promised to try to limit alcohol sales there, community leaders say.

State Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, said Arco has two stations and convenience stores within two blocks of each other, so the company agreed to allow only one to sell alcohol.

Alarcon, who was a City Council member when the deal was made to put in the new Arco station in 1997 as part of the redevelopment of the former General Motors plant site on Van Nuys Boulevard south of Roscoe Boulevard, said the new station got its license in December, but the other station still sells alcohol.

``If they are not keeping their word, we need to make sure that they do,'' Alarcon said. ``Everyone knows that a concentration of alcohol sales in a neighborhood that already has crime problems has a negative effect on the community.''

According to Arco officials, the company is looking into the issue, but they could not say last week whether it will stop alcohol sales at one of the stores, said Cheryl Burnett, a company spokeswoman.

Although there was no written agreement to bar the second license, Arco sent a letter to then-Councilman Alarcon assuring him the company would ``do its best'' to maintain just one license between the two sites.

Alarcon said the second store received its license sometime between when he left office, and Councilman Alex Padilla took over, and when Arco was sold to BP Amoco.

While the state issues liquor licenses, the city is responsible for issuing conditional use alcohol sales permits, taking into account any negative impact.

``Once the liquor license is approved, there's nothing we can do from our end,'' said Carl DeWing of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. ``It's really in the hands of local government.''

Within blocks of the two gas stations, there already exist more than a dozen other alcohol retailers, according to the state ABC.

``There's just too many places that sell alcohol around here,'' said Maritza Varela de Artan, who runs the community-improvement group Casa Esperanza on nearby Blythe Street.

``It's a quality-of-life issue,'' she said. ``There's already a liquor store right across the street (from the new Arco). We don't need more alcohol.''

Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Association, served on a community task force in 1997 advising on the impact of the plant's redevelopment.

``We were steaming mad when we found out both stations were selling alcohol,'' he said. ``If we had known they were not going to keep their word, we would have fought the second station from the beginning.''

Padilla agreed there are enough local alcohol retailers and pledged to urge the oil company to keep its promise, spokesman David Gershwin said.

One activist group is prepared to take action if the oil company does not limit sales.

``We don't know why the ball was dropped,'' said Xavier Flores, executive director of Pueblo y Salud, a member group of the larger San Fernando Valley Alcohol Policy Coalition. ``We'd like to see them keep their word, but we're ready to bring on a boycott or whatever is necessary if they don't.''

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Map: Arco AM/PM stations