Ban on Fortified Wine, Strong Beer Improves Life in Tacoma Neighborhood

Residents of Tacoma, Wash.’s South End and East Side say that their quality of life has improved since sales of cheap, high-alcohol wine and beer were banned in October 2008, the Tacoma News Tribune reported Dec. 1.

The area was declared the city’s second Alcohol Impact Area (AIA); residents had grappled with chronic public drunkenness for years. The first AIA, which covers downtown Tacoma and the Hilltop neighborhood, was established in 2001.

Since the latest AIA was set up, police and fire calls related to alcohol have fallen in the South End and East Side. Some transient camps also have disappeared, as well.