Hi all, I've been following the discussion about Sandy's Deli for awhile and thought I'd add my two cents. I know the Highland Park residents who are most identified with the campaign to restrict liquor sales at Sandy's Deli and know they are fighting the good fight to improve their block. I also know that their concern is with bad behavior in and around Sandy's Deli, not the persons who are committing the bad behavior. Being against loitering and suspected drug dealing is not being against young black men. I also know that these residents are not simply advocating for middle-class propriety in a struggling section of Highland Park; they are not advocating replacing Sandy's Deli with a flower shop. They would like to see the new operators of Sandy's Deli sell a mix of food and drink that appeals to the broad diversity of the neighborhood around their store. Indeed, residential redevelopment efforts on Mellon Street by the Highland Park Community Development Corporation and East Liberty Development, Inc. may eventually change the local market for convenience foods to such an extent that Sandy's Deli will have to adapt or lose money. There may not be sufficient legal grounds to remove the liquor license from Sandy's Deli. If this is the case, I hope that interested residents can engage the future operators of Sandy's Deli in dialogue, in private as well as in public, about how to work with the neighborhood, not against it. Michael Michael P. Johnson Associate Professor of Management Science and Urban Affairs H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management Carnegie Mellon University 2107C Hamburg Hall, 4800 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 t: 412-268-4270 f: 412-268-7036 e: johnson2@andrew.cmu.edu w: http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/researchers/faculty/johnson2.html