HERNANDEZ GETS BEHIND CLEAN LIVING; COUNCILMAN PUSHING FOR ZONES BARRING ALCOHOL SALES, ADS.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Just months after admitting to drug and alcohol problems, Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez is proposing the creation of ``sober living zones'' where liquor stores, bars and alcohol advertising would be banned.

The select neighborhood zones would be the targets of drug-dealing crackdowns and havens for organizations catering to recovering addicts and alcoholics.

``It's creating zones for people who want a sober living environment so they can be comfortable,'' said Hernandez, who pleaded guilty in October to felony cocaine possession charges. Hernandez had the charge deferred by agreeing to enter a three-year rehabilitation program.

Hernandez wants the first two zones in neighborhoods in his district that already have a high concentration of group homes.

Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr., who heads the council's Housing and Community Redevelopment Committee, joined Hernandez in asking for a feasibility study.

The idea drew opposition from the liquor industry and even Bob Lemke, executive director of the Mary Lind Foundation, which runs five group homes for drug and alcohol recovery, including one in a neighborhood targeted by Hernandez.

``He's well-meaning. When I first got sober, I wanted to go into all the bars and pull people off the stools. You get enthusiastic about the new way of living, and you think everybody should live that way.''

But Lemke said he is against shutting down businesses that sell alcohol, believing instead that people need to learn to resist real-world temptations.

A spokeswoman for the group California Beverage Merchants, which represents liquor store owners, criticized the proposal as too intrusive.

``You have more and more and bigger government trying to legislate morality. They are becoming the lifestyle police,'' Judith Ashley said.

Hernandez was undaunted.

``There is a whole group of people that are sober that I hang out with now. The reality is we don't go to clubs. We don't go to bars. We don't go to liquor stores. We don't have a desire to do that, and it's very comfortable for me that way.''

Hernandez wants to create more recovery centers and zoning rules to ban liquor outlets and advertisements from a certain distance from the group homes, possibly 1,000 feet.

Hernandez said the city could use its nuisance abatement laws to close down any existing liquor stores that cause problems.

``There are a few liquor stores. We've been fighting them. We've been closing them down. We've been using the abatement process as it is in that area because of the high crime and the fact that they are nuisances,'' he said.