Tasting rooms, breweries NOT blamed for problems

Though the author maintains that Lt. William Carter was quoted accurately at the July 19 Ocean Beach Public Safety meeting, she admits introducing inaccuracies in other areas of the original report, which has been struck in order to avoid confusion. — Ed.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 7/28, 6:30 p.m.

From Lt. William Carter:

"First, the alcohol related crime rate in Ocean Beach has not risen 400%. A specific geographic area is given a baseline of what is considered an average acceptable alcohol related crime rate per population. In the case of Ocean Beach, the acceptable percentage is 120% of the base line number assigned. In the 2015 year, Ocean Beach geographic area was 432% of the base line number. This is not an increase in crime rate. There were no statistics given for previous years to indicate if the baseline level has increased, decreased or remained the same.

"Secondly, alcohol related crimes do not differentiate where it originated. The source of alcohol could be imported from other areas, homes, bars, tasting rooms, restaurants, or convenient stores. Therefore it is misleading to say that tasting rooms, current or proposed are the source of alcohol related crimes stats. Certainly it is reasonable to believe any provider of alcohol has some contribution to overall rates, but none should be singled out.

"Thirdly, when a new off-sale alcohol establishment wants to come into a geographic area within the City of San Diego, or a current business wants to change the conditions of their existing permit, Police Service Area Stations are asked for whether the area station recommends approval or not. Not all proposed businesses get input from Service Area Stations. The San Diego Police Licensing and Permits Unit is the clearing house for all new and existing permits recommendations, and provide the final input for the department.

"Fourth, the processes for obtaining alcohol licenses are regulated by ABC, and they are the controlling agency for new and existing license. There are many types of licenses that a business can obtain, and the timeframe for obtaining them varies per type."