:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55177579/better_luck_tomorrow_houston_heights_open.0.jpg)
After last year’s vote to bring retail booze to the Heights, a new petition is pushing for changes that would make it easier for restaurants and bars to sell drinks in the historic neighborhood.
Circulated by a group called the Houston Heights Restaurant Coalition, the petition is collection signatures in support of a measure that would lift the requirement that drinkers sign up for a restaurant’s “private club,” reports the Houston Chronicle. The group hopes to get their proposed measure on the ballot in November this year.
Despite the restrictions, restaurant growth has boomed in the Heights in recent months. In an interview with Eater earlier this year though, Better Luck Tomorrow owner Bobby Heugel called the private club requirement a “significant burden on our operations and capabilities.” Coltivare chef Ryan Pera echoed those sentiments. ““It is dry, so our concepts that serve alcohol function as private clubs,” he said. “Which brings accounting challenges that businesses in other neighborhoods don’t have to deal with.”
In order for voters to decide on ousting the private club requirement, the Coalition must collect at least 1,500 signatures by the July deadline. Stay tuned for more developments as the measure progresses.
