On Route 40, Latin Market's liquor application gives hope, draws critics

At the corner of a small commercial strip across Route 40 from the Normandy Shopping Center in Ellicott City, Tere's Latin Market has existed for the last four years as a local resource for members of the Latin American community in Howard County.

It's a place where they can buy calling cards with special rates to their home countries, Spanish-language music, spicy peppers not found in many county stores and warm, Mexican-inspired meals from the deli in the back.

Tough economic times, however, have made keeping the business afloat more difficult, said owners Luis and Teresa Carino, so they've decided to branch out – into selling alcohol.

The Jessup couple, originally from Mexico, has applied for a county liquor license to sell beer and wine in their store, a request that is currently pending before the county's Alcohol Beverage Hearing Board.

Having a beer with a warm meal is a tradition in many Latin American countries, Teresa Carino said, and customers have often asked her why she doesn't stock alcohol for them to buy with their take-away tacos, tamales and pupusas.

"If we sell beer and wine, it's going to help us," Carino said. "The economy now for us is critical."

But also critical, say some local residents, is the need to revitalize the Route 40 corridor. And allowing yet another business to sell alcohol, especially on a four-mile stretch of the road that already has eight liquor stores, is not the way to do it, they say.

"I'm not against business development at all, but this sort of thing is getting to the point where enough is enough," said Franc Miller, who has lived in the nearby Chatham neighborhood for more than 40 years.

"We wanted some upscale development, and I don't think liquor stores are upscale development," said Angela Beltram, a former member of the County Council and the Route 40 Enhancement Committee, who lives in the North St. John's community.

Beltram said there is no need for another liquor store on Route 40.

"I know what they are going to say. 'It's for our customers, the Latin community,'" Beltram said, adding that cultural reasons have been cited in liquor license applications in the area in the past.

"The last time it was for the Asian community," she said. "Up behind Dunkin' Donuts there's a little Italian deli. Should they sell wine? What kind of argument is that? It's ridiculous."

Miller said more liquor stores bring more trouble for local police. Beltram said the proliferation of liquor stores in the area is bringing down the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding Route 40. And both said the Alcohol Beverage Hearing Board and the Liquor Board, which is the County Council sitting as the Board of License Commissioners, deny license applications far too infrequently.

"I just hope the hearing board wakes up and stops willy-nilly granting these licenses, because I don't think they know how to say, 'No,'" Beltram said.

Recycled arguments

Those arguments aren't new.

Back in 2009, Miller and Beltram argued many of the same points when they joined other local residents in challenging the hearing board's decision to grant St. John's Liquors a license to operate in St. John's Plaza, about a mile and a half from the Latin Market.

The group appealed the hearing board's decision to the Liquor Board, but weren't able to sway enough council members to change the decision.

Beltram said the St. John's Liquors decision was flawed, especially, she said, because some of the hearing board members admitted they were unfamiliar with the location of the store.

"They said they didn't know where it was!" Beltram said.