(From WEEK News 25) - Gone but not forgotten. Peoria city leaders say that's the view of a liquor store that was shut down in 2010 and those memories are not so pleasant.
Which is why the city and its residents are fighting to keep the store from re-opening but that's not stopping its owner from trying.
It's a years-long battle that doesn't show any signs of slowing down. It's all centered around a store on the corner of Sheridan and McClure in Peoria.
After the city pulled its liquor license in August in 2010, owners of Sheridan Liquors closed up shop for more than a year. They reopened just a few months ago as a convenience store.
At Monday's meeting of Peoria's liquor commission, Owner Adnan Asad, via his attorney, asked the city to renew their license.
"That business has been there for decades and all of a sudden for some reason, the anti-business neighbors caused the city to go after this business," said Dan O'Day, Attorney for Sheridan Liquors.
City officials revoked the store's license after residents complained it was a hot-bed for criminal activity. On top of that, the store's former manager is now in federal prison, convicted of money structuring.
City leaders say they don't trust things will be any different.
"What they did to the neighborhood, the crime that was there, the problems that it was causing the neighborhood, I'm one councilman that will never, as long as it's the same person applying, support them for a liquor license," said at-large councilman Eric Turner.
Many residents agree.
"The liquor just brought a complete new element. Prostitution, drugs, lewd conduct. It was just a magnet," said resident Charles Spears.
Owners of Sheridan Liquors currently have a lawsuit pending against the city in the 3rd district court of appeals and the store's attorney says they don't plan to stop fighting.
Meantime, liquor commissioners voted to recommend the store's doors be kept closed. A decision that will move onto the shoulders of Peoria city council members later this month.
