A new law preventing stores in the District’s Ward 4 from selling single bottles or cans of beer and malt liquor is causing City Councilman Adrian Fenty a lot of heat. Among small grocery owners, who say the new regulation is threatening their survival, Fenty is not the most well-liked guy. There was even a protest at the Wilson Building.
Bisrat Mekuria, who owns a small store on New Hampshire Avenue near Georgia Avenue, tells the Post that the restriction, championed by Fenty and signed into law by Mayor Anthony Williams last month “looks like discrimination to me. Apartheid.”
That’s because those wanting single beers or malt liquor just need to walk a few blocks south to Ward 1 where such purchases can be made.