Just to clarify, the owner of Duigi's was not "socked with a $100,000 relicensing fee"
What occurred was city inspectors apparently informed the owner that upgrades were needed before a new license could be issued and that expense was estimated to be $100,000. Even so, it would appear that so far, Mayor Rybak's campaign goal of making it easier for small businesses to deal with City Hall has a long ways to go before becoming reality... Mark Snyder Windom Park On 10/31/03 7:46 AM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Duigi's closed! This is terrible news. > > This restaurant (formerly Casalenda's, formerly Mario's) has been a > neighborhood institution for years and years. It was a great place to take the > family for an affordable dinner, have a glass of wine and stuff yourself with > pasta while listening to Frank Sinatra on the jukebox. It does seem that City > Hall is doing a number on a good neighbor -- first they close off access to > that 38th Street business node for MONTHS doing street repair (why do these > things take so long?), then they sock this guy with a $100,000 relicensing > fee. My jumpy paranoid side causes me to wonder if this has anything to do > with small business opposition to a medium-density housing project that has > been proposed for that area -- a "transit-oriented development" opportunity > linked to the Hiawatha line. > > Note also that the Cardinal Bar & Restaurant just off Hiawatha has had to > move its parking lot across 38th Street due to the construction of the LRT > station -- not the safest situation for its patrons. > > Not to mention that this pattern also bodes ill for small businesses on Lake > Street during the big Lake Street redesign project coming up... > > The recent owner of Duigi's was committed to retaining the character and even > the menu of this pseudo-historic neighborhood restaurant (except for the > garlic toast, which he "updated" with a few herbs.) Let's hope who or whatever > takes his place has the same spirit of appreciation for its role in the > community. > > -- Holle Brian > more than a little ticked off in Bancroft REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
