Re: [UC] Re: 4610 Cedar Avenue Take out Zoning Hearing rescheduled

[Bronswolfe]

It's so nice of folks who post to this list and who live "a couple of block aeay" or "around the corner" from this proposed establishment to tell the neighbors who actually live there what they have to suffer. I was particularly impressed by the observation made by  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

".� It's not as if baltimore ave is a raucous place late at night or
that one more restaurant is going to change that."

When we moved to the 4700 block of Baltimore Ave. in 1971, there was one bar, two barber shops, a Jewish Deli., a greasy spoon, a real estate office, a shoe repair store, an abandoned movie theater,  and several vacant store fronts. 32 years later, we have have three bars, three restuarants, three barbershops, a travel agency, a dollar store, a deli/convienience store, a doctor's office, and a carrot cake store, and only two unused storefronts. Real progress! But has there been a price? You bet! Who has paid that price the most-the residents!

It has been increasingly difficult to park, but I haven't been crying on this list about it. But what has severely changed the quality of life here on Baltimore Ave is the night life. It has made living on Baltimore Avenue A LIVING HELL!  The drunks have no respect for the neighborhood at 2:30am, and make as much noise as they like. When Dahlak said they wanted a liquor license "just to be able to offer wine to their cutomers", I did not object. Well guess what the neighborhood got? A second bar two door up from the first. The neighborhood was changed!

Roger, Vince, and Duane are responsive to their neighbors. I know that their liquor license (the third on the block) is held responsibly. They close their bar earlier, and do not serve patronsa who a visibly intoxicated. Not so the other two. We have had shoot-out on  the sidewalk in front of Abby's at 2am, bottle throwing mobs in the middle of the intersection, and nightly people who juct can't seem to walk home in th e wee hours without sceaming to one another across the street.

So does this short stretch of Baltimore Ave need another late night attraction? NO! It is oversaturated. If anyone on this list thinks that Baltimore Ave should be more like South Street or Manyunk, I invite you to try to spend the night at our house. Try to sleep through last call at 2-2:30-maybe as late as 3:15am.

As to the other objections relative to the parking lot for 4610 Cedar. When it was first West Coast Video, and their successor, walking past always presented a risk. You wouldn't believe how desperate some folks were to return  their movies. If I had a dollar for every time I was almost run over by folks pulling in or out onto Baltimore, I'd be able to afford to renovate the empty sorefront on our house. I have no reason to be confidant that the taxi drivers this proposed restuarant plans to attract will be any more considerate of pedestrians.

The owners of this establishment have lied to the neighbors, the building owner, and the city from the very beginning. There is absolutely no reason to believe that they will not extend their hours of operation to accomodate the bar patrons in the vicinity. We need responsible business owners on Baltimore Ave. Not folks who are just out to make a buck at the residents expense.

I write this as someone who owned a business on Baltimore Ave. for ten years. Sure it costs more to run a business responsibly. But as long as we continue to allow inconsiderate business owners to trash the neighborhood, we get what we deserve.

Respectfully,

Fred Wolfe