So Grandma, thirsty for Busch Light?

Beginning Tuesday, she might not have to go on a beer run anymore.

Evanston City Council will vote Monday on whether to create a new liquor license in Evanston that would allow retirement homes to serve alcohol. The Administration and Public Works Committee voted 4-0 on April 9 to recommend that City Council pass the measure.

“I’ll toast to that,” Ald. Gene Feldman (9th) said at the committee meeting. “I gotta tell you, there’s a lot of rowdy stuff going on (in retirement homes).”

Feldman said the request was first made by the Presbyterian Homes, which wanted to be able to serve alcohol to residents during dinner.

Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said some members on the committee might benefit from the proposed license. She added, jokingly, that she had heard some retirement homes might be applying for the new liquor licenses that allow alcohol to be served until 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The vote on that issue is also scheduled for Monday night.

Rainey, the committee’s chairwoman, said she was concerned that the language of the law as originally presented to the committee was too vague. It was amended to say that retirement homes must keep a kitchen open when serving alcohol.

The measure has the support of the homes as well.

“I bet some of those people would like to have a drink,” said Mary Preib, resident of North Shore Hotel, a retirement community. “Why not?”

Others see potential problems with the new law. Since many seniors take medication, consuming alcohol may cause health problems, said Mary Fedorowski, an emergency medical technician.

“Ninety-eight percent of our patients would be intoxicated,” said fellow technician, Jessica Polyak.

Byron H. Wilson, a member of the Evanston Liquor Control Board, which issues liquor licenses, said he supported the change.

“If anybody knows how to handle their liquor, (senior citizens) do,” Wilson said.

Wilson said one reason the liquor laws do not allow alcohol to be served in retirement homes is because some residents still remember fondly the days when Evanston was dry. Alcohol could not be served in Evanston until 1972.

“Some of the seniors themselves didn’t want to see alcohol served,” Wilson said.

One senior who is not interested in drinking is Gizella Okrent, another North Shore Hotel resident.

“I don’t believe in it,” Okrent said. “I don’t drink. It has nothing to do with morals. I just don’t like it. But I wouldn’t tell you to drink or not to drink.”

Okrent also said that health concerns should be discussed.

“For the sake of the safety of others, drinking should be done with consideration,” she said.