If anyone opposes Sunday sales in Sandy Springs, they aren’t speaking up about it.
The Sandy Springs City Council in August put Sunday package sales on the ballot for Nov. 8 and no one spoke in opposition to it. The only real issue for the council was the cost of putting the measure on the ballot.
There have been no organized protests or additional comments at public meetings.
City Councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny said the collective yawn and shrug of Sandy Springs residents isn’t surprising.
“I think we’re a very progressive city, the people that live here are, and I just feel it’s not something the people that live here are going to be against,” McEnerny said. “I haven’t heard anything from my constituents. It’s just not an issue.”
City Councilman Gabriel Sterling, who has been driving the issue on the City Council, said he’s spending about $400 in leftover campaign cash to remind people to vote “yes.” He also created the Facebook page Sandy Springs, GA for Sunday Alcohol Sales.
One of the group’s recent messages reads, “With the small turnout expected, every vote will count even more. Please get out and early vote or vote on Nov. 8. Also, try to bring five or six friends and neighbors with you…as long as they are voting YES!”
Sterling said as far as he knows, he is the only person in Sandy Springs conducting any kind of outreach on Sunday Sales. He said he’s not happy that the sales would start at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, a time he calls “arbitrary.”
“To me, I think it’s silly that you can’t buy alcohol on a Sunday,” Sterling said. “It’s about freedom and allowing people the ability to make free decisions.”
At least one local church leader said he’s opposed to the idea, but he’s not organizing a movement against it.
Loyd Blair, pastor of the Crossroads Atlanta Primitive Baptist Church in Sandy Springs, said he will discuss the issue with his congregation.
“We will have discussions about that and about the ballot that’s coming up and of course we will try to dissuade that as much as we can,” Blair said.
When asked why there wasn’t any organized opposition to the idea, Blair said, “Maybe the general public in the area is not really aware of what’s going to be on the ballot.”
