Thank you for this!! Michael
----- Original Message ----- From: Trevor Hughes To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, July 02, 2012 11:55 AM Subject: Re: [obsnw] Response to article in Obslife; June 2012 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lion Corner <[email protected]> Date: 20 June 2012 12:38 Subject: [obsnw] Response to article in Obslife; June 2012 To: [email protected] Response to your article in Obslife; June 2012 Liquor licence successes, setbacks (p8) Dear Mr. Henk Stutteheim [HENK] [HENK] My response to your response to the article in Obslife. You have addressed your response to me in my personal capacity. You have referred also to the OCA and to other participants in civic matters. My response is directed to you (unnamed author of the Lion Corner response) in my personal capacity but I will include comment on OCA and civic matters as , after all, I represent them in my personal capacity. As there are no reporter’s name to the article, we only presume that you submitted the above mentioned.[HENK] Your presumption is incorrect. I did not submit the article to Obs Life. As a member of the OCA, I provided the editor with information on developments in Observatory concerning applications for liquor licences and related matters. It is with great apprehension to have read your biased article of negativity and the pessimistic outlook on the structure in which liquor licenses are issued in Observatory.[HENK] It is not my article, but we’ve already established that! Biased? That may indeed be your opinion. I reserve my comment. Negative? The article states that noise levels from Lower Main Road clubs continue to drop after community activists started engaging directly with club owners to convince them to operate within the rules of their liquor licences. That’s positive! The closing down of a particularly problematic and non-compliant night club? That’s positive in the eyes of many a well-informed community member! Pessimistic yes! Notwithstanding there being a raft of legislation governing the conduct of entertainment businesses in residential areas, the community and civic organisations continue to be frustrated by the lack of proactive action from the authorities to curb errant behaviour by non-compliant businesses. For whatever reason you might have to detest/dislike anything to do with the legal trade in liquor, whether it is just your personal dislike, some kind of a religious viewpoint, or alternative business dealings, we would enlighten you that we do not adhere to your personal or the group of community doomsayers to spread these incorrect facts to the public about the issuing of liquor licences.[HENK Such vitriol! I’m not sure how to respond. However, I’ll deal with the issues you raise one at a time! Neither I nor the OCA detest or dislike the legal trade in liquor. On the contrary, business activity, including the entertainment and restaurant business that includes the trade in liquor, are fundamental to our community and its financial sustainability. We support it all the way, as long as the business owners are compliant with all business licences conditions as issued by the City Council and the Liquor Board. I have no personal dislike of the liquor trade, am indeed grateful for it and have no religious viewpoint at all, seeing that you’ve mentioned it! As far as ‘ alternative business dealings’ is concerned, I am not sure what you mean. But then again, I’m not sure you know what you mean! Lastly, neither I nor my colleagues in the OCA are doom sayers and we don’t spread incorrect facts! You are not the deciding body when an application to the Western Cape Liquor Board is submitted.[HENK] That is correct, and we never said that we were. There is a fully functioned guide-lined process on how an application is handled.[HENK] Agreed. These include public participation,[HENK] ( my emphasis) scrutinising of the licence holder’s criminal record, municipal and legal requirements and a lot of other red tape. This process is followed by each applicant and cannot be side-lined or omitted.[HENK] Agreed. As it should be. If you and the Observatory Civic Association feel that you need to be part of this process then Lobby the Western Cape Government and ask them to change the law to suit you.[HENK] No need to lobby the Western Cape Government, already done that! The OCA participates in and is part of this process and there is no need for any change to the law. What is required is compliance with the law! And , by the way, we are not doing anything to suit us as you suggest, we are representing our community! Liquor outlets are also conducting legal business as any other business i.e. a shoe shop, chemist or a Vetkoek Den for that matter. We contribute to the economy. We employ people. We are a service to the public whether you like it or not.[HENK] As long as the business is being conducted legally and does not disturb neighbouring properties, the OCA has no concern about the nature of your business. Don’t you think that the correct way of handling any liquor concern when you see them on your (witch hunting)[HENK] (get real!) patrols breaking the law by i.e. open after their legal licenced operating hours or when any other crime is being committed on said licenced premises, YOU PHONE THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE![HENK] (Again, get real!) It is the SAP [HENK] SAPS? job to ensure that all of us abide by the law and then they would follow procedure to enforce this.[HENK] One would certainly hope so! But ala’s, this is not the case! Your/the objections/references lodged in the case of Lion Corner Taverns application (with the 21 orchestrated copied objections from so-called homeowners) was rejected by the liquor board and we quote: “Having perused Google satellite aerial and street view photos to determine the nature of the street and area (and confirming that it is definitely not “purely residential” as alleged by the objectors) and having considered the content of the replication, as well as all other factors brought to the Board’s attention by either the applicant, the applicant’s attorney, the DPO and/or the objectors, the Board considered it to be in the public interest to grant the application and imposed license conditions it believes will curtail and address[HENK] ( therein lies the rub) any of the legitimate concerns raised by the objectors.”[HENK] So having said all that, what may I ask, is the problem? You have made application to conduct a business and have been granted consent with conditions. I, the OCA and in particular your immediate neighbours could not ask for more! It will now be incumbent on you to comply with all of the conditions that the Board considered it should impose in the public interest! Seven months of red tape with this unnecessary delay caused by these instigator’s objections[HENK] ( Instigator’s? Really? What does that mean? v.t. urge on, incite, (person to action, to do esp. something evil); bring about (revolt, murder, etc.) thus; hence or cogn. Instigation, instigator.) in our application had a major financial implication to our business, by having had to operate on costly temporary licenses as well as the delay in our future business projections.[HENK] Really? Only after the Premier of the Western Cape’s intervention to the liquor board we had our license issued on 3/5/12 (WCP/039382)[HENK] Well done, why not for heaven’s sake?! You say that the OCA discovered liquor licenses were issued it give the impression that you weren’t aware of the application(s) even though you were involved in our application process with meetings where you, DPO Sgt. Prins, James Cowley and the neighbours were present 5 Oct 11. [HENK] I was indeed involved, with other community representatives and the DPO, in the OCA participation in your application. The fact that you stated in the article that RELOAD has “shut its doors probably because for financial reasons”, makes it clear that you either has[HENK] had, have? first-hand insight into the said business’s financial statements or that you are biased and therefore just meddling into what is none of your concerns.[HENK] Neither of your postulations is the case!. [HENK] As rate paying property owners as well as fully licensed business operators in Observatory, we would like to ensure you and the public that we will operate within our licensed framework and ensuring a safe venue to come to and to have a good meal and an enjoyable drink in a fabulous environment.[HENK] What more could anyone want!? As a resident of Observatory and as a member of the Observatory Civic Association, I will continue to concern myself wherever an applicant for a business and liquor license proposes to conduct a business involving a restaurant, a bar or a nightclub immediately adjacent to or in the vicinity of residential properties. The net result of our endeavours is that, when the licenses are granted, and even if we had objected to them being granted, the applications are granted with conditions. Amongst the conditions that are granted to businesses in the entertainment business and especially where the sale of liquor is concerned, you will find conditions that are there to protect residents against abuse. It is the stated objective of the OCA to encourage all businesses that involve the sale of alcohol to be compliant with City Council ordinances and Liquor Board licence conditions. If they are, the likelihood of noise disturbance and other disruptive behaviour is likely to be minimised. Henk Stutterheim. In response to the communication from: Lion Corner Tavern 205 Lower Main Road Observatory Cape Town Tel: +27 21 447 5113 [email protected] www.lioncorner.com https://www.facebook.com/LionCorner -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en.
