Losing Focus

Last evening Greg and I (along with our next door neighbor Lily), went over to a community meeting that was hosted by our Neighborhood Association. The meeting was about allowing a local business around the corner a “modified” liquor license to serve spirits on a proposed outdoor patio planed for the second floor of the building.

After thinking about the meeting for a bit, I was able to reflect on how hard it is to get a group of people focused on the actual issue at hand. And, if this is difficult over something as simple as a liquor license modification, what must politicking be like on a more grander scale?

Some background: The restaurant, Shells and Sauces, has really brought some much needed class and good food to this block of businesses. I live on Elizabeth Street (for almost 10 years now) about ½ block up from where the restaurant is, so any sort of outdoor activity has the potential to affect the parking, noise, and property values on my street. George (the owner of the restaurant) along with his family have been in business on 12th Avenue between Elizabeth and Clayton streets for many, many years. This current venture seems to be their best. The food is good, the service is good, and best of all, it is right around the corner. I have no doubt that while this restaurant is operated by George and his family, that things will probably be good for everyone.

The problem lies with how things work in Denver relative to the grant of this so called “modified liquor license.” Denver issues liquor licenses to the building (and owner of the property thereof) not the business. In other words, the restaurant could be sold tomorrow, and the goodwill generated by George and his family may, or may not continue.

So, my problem with allowing this to happen is definitely not with the current owners, but with the archaic way liquor licenses are issued here in Denver. Essentially, it forces me, as a property owner, ½ block up the street to initially oppose the request, because I have no idea exactly how cooperative any potential new owner would be.

At the meeting, we had a lot of discussion about the issue, and I made my concerns known to the audience. But the interesting thing was, the tone of the meeting kept heading back to how good and good for the community George and his family has been -- forgetting about the real issue, which is that the liquor license modification would be issued to the BUILDING, and not the busines “Shells and Sauces.” That fact continually got lost.

There was this lady that spoke about living in the Washington Park neighborhood and how much she enjoyed walking six blocks to the business area in the Old South Gaylord Area. At that point, I had to pipe up and let her and everyone else known that walking six blocks to enjoy such an area is much different than living ½ block away -- the potential for anything going wrong impacts me much more than someone walking from six blocks away. Then, she gets up and leaves before the vote. Nothing like putting your two cents worth in verbally, then not bothering to stay for the vote.

As we listen to all the rhetoric for the next several weeks before the General Election in November, I think we all need to forget about wheather there is a “hockey mom” running for Vice President, or there is a “community organizer” running for President. I believe that it is important that we focus on the issues such as the cost of war, the cost of health care, the cost of not working with our international neighbors, the cost of bad energy policy, the cost of teenage pregnancies, the cost of jobs being outsourced to foreign countries (did you read what Frontier Airlines is doing with maintenance for their planes?), and then you decide who it is to best run this country. Focus on the issues and not the personalities. Above all, stay for the vote!