In the years leading up to the riots, a predominantly white group of homeowners had been pressing police to reduce public drunkenness, urination, littering, aggressive panhandling, and other quality-of-life issues in the neighborhood. At the same time the Mount Pleasant Advisory and Neighborhood Commission, a quasi-governmental neighborhood organization, blamed many of Mount Pleasant street's problems on the easy availability of alcohol and its sale to already inebriated customers. Some Black and Hispanic residents perceived these efforts to crack down on alcohol sales as an attempt to drive lower income people and the customers they served out of the neighborhood, further fueling tensions.