Bedford residents will likely decide if liquor stores are allowed in the city
A citizens group that wants to see liquor stores in Bedford turned in the needed signatures to get a referendum on the May ballot.
Sal Caruso, who helped organized the initiative to bring liquor stores to Bedford, said that 7,300 signatures from registered voters were turned in to the city secretary’s office on Friday. The total was more than the 6,729 signatures that were required to get the local option on the ballot.
“I am ecstatic, thanks to the support of the Bedford people, we got good numbers,” Caruso said.
Caruso, who also helped form the Bedford Development Coalition, hired Texas Petition Strategies to conduct the petition drive. He said the group wanted to bring liquor stores to Bedford to increase the tax base and to keep tax dollars in the city.
John Hatch, president of Texas Petition Strategies, estimated that liquor stores will bring in about $300,000 in tax dollars annually.
Caruso said he and others talked to Goody Goody Liquor in Dallas and Mirage Fine Spirits in Colleyville, and said that both companies want to open stores in Bedford if voters approve the measure.
Goody Goody wants to locate in a former Fuddruckers location.