Another community — this time, Swampscott — has decided that “just add alcohol” is the way to generate economic growth.
Swampscott is following Peabody’s example and seeking to boost the number of all-alcohol liquor licenses it has available to potential restaurateurs and other entrepreneurs interested in opening businesses in town.
The town has 14 all-alcohol licenses and state Rep. Lori Ehrlich and state Sen. Thomas M. McGee are helping to get legislative approval for eight more licenses. The theory behind increasing the number of local licenses is simple: Provide additional business opportunities in commercial areas like Vinnin Square and along Humphrey Street.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said the town issued its last available all-alcohol license last spring and, since then, businesses have applied for licenses only to find out the town does not have them available. In Fitzgerald’s eyes, that unavailability translates into missed business startup and employment opportunities.
Adding more liquor licenses also adds a host of questions town officials should consider even if residents don’t ask them. Does adding more liquor-serving establishments in Swampscott stretch the Police Department’s resources thinner and increase the specter of increased drunk driving locally?
The answer may be an emphatic and even statistics-supported “no” but it is worth hearing a detailed perspective on the subject from police officials. Does adding more liquor-serving establishments add a level of competition harmful to existing liquor-serving businesses?
In Lynnfield, Town Meeting members rejected a proposed additional license on the grounds it could hurt business for two local, family-owned liquor stores.
Swampscott officials may receive competition concerns raised by existing establishment owners and, then again, they may not. A more ambivalent question arises from the quality of life domain with residents asking — or maybe not asking — if adding more liquor licenses changes the town’s character — maybe not now but in a few years or maybe half a decade.
It’s easy to say adding licenses means adding businesses, means adding jobs and tax revenue. But quality of life is, again, one of those more indefinable, less tangible concerns. Town Meeting members presumably addressed all of these questions and others last May when they signed off the proposed license increase.
Those discussions were undoubtedly thorough, but they could set the tone for another round of conversation about how adding licenses potentially means prosperity for the town and also how adding them potentially changes the town’s character.