I've had some correspondence and conversations with several Eagle Rock stakeholders who live in the Townsend / Colorado Boulevard area over the last couple of weeks about the proposed restaurant and bar on the northeasterly corner of Townsend and Colorado. An amazing number of people filled the meeting room in Eagle Rock City Hall a few weeks ago to hear the Applicants present their case and to testify about how they felt about the proposed restaurant and bar. And some of the same people showed up at the TERA Preservation, Planning and Development meeting earlier in the week, including the applicants for the restaurant and bar. However, very few of these people were the same people who showed up at various meetings about the proposed international school on Mt. Royal and Colorado Boulevard and very few were the same people who showed up about the 6 bed care facility on Mt. Helena. One of the stakeholders who wrote me requesting information about the Pilot Parking Program also wrote another community group which had formed to contest the proposed international school, suggesting that they work together on community issues. Here is, in part, what I wrote back to him.

"I read with interest your letter to CARE. I would urge you and the other neighbors to continue to participate, regardless of the vehicle, on the broad range of community issues that face Eagle Rock. TERA has been around now for over 20 years, thanks to a few interested parties. The ERNC has been around for at least 6 years now. And yet until something happens in what is perceived to be someone's back yard, very few people show up to deal with community wide issues, happy enough to let someone else deal with them or ignore them. It's not that hard to turn some people out for a crisis that affects them directly. The hard part is staying involved and trying to do something about the issues that affect someone else's back yard as well as your own. I hope your involvement will go beyond the Fat Dog issue and speed bumps in your immediate neighborhood and will reach out into graffiti in the parks and on the walls of all parts of town, dealing with litter and trash in the business district and providing an receptive environment for the types of businesses that have bolstered the values of the surrounding residential properties, working with other community groups to assist them in their goals for their neighborhoods, super (lighted) cross walks to assist with pedestrian safety in crossing our boulevards, and a myriad of other important issues. I know that the TERA Preservation Planning and Development Committee, which meets the 3rd Wednesday of every month and the ERNC Planning and Land Use Committee can both use an infusion of hard working, new thinking people. All of which is to say that after the Fat Dog matter is past, and I'm confident that it will be, I hope to see your face and those of others in the groups still participating and involved in community wide issues on a long term basis."

He wrote back and said he was in it for the long haul, and I hope he brings others with him. There are many avenues open for participation, although there is always room for more. For instance, I thought it unfortunate that there were no contested positions on the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council and some positions had no candidates running for office. While I appreciated those who were willing to step forward and run, I believe democracy functions best when there are a number of well qualified candidates from which to choose. And in my ideal world, those well qualified candidates who were not elected would continue to be involved with and contribute to their community through other methods because, after all, it remains their community, win, lose or draw. There's something selfish, childish and immature about the person who picks up his or her marbles and goes home just because they didn't get their way. To quote something that was said frequently around the offices of Coro, Southern California, "If you don't like what's cooking, get into the kitchen!"

That said, the TERA Board of Directors voted to oppose the current application of the Fat Dog Lounge for a Conditional Use Permit to serve a full line alcohol for on-site consumption, to oppose the request to be open until 2:00 a.m., to oppose the request to purchase parking credits for a business over 2,500 square feet in area; to oppose a requested variance from the parking requirements set forth in the Municipal Code. The Board's specific concerns are as follows:

1. Hours of operation. Given the proximity to residential uses, the restaurant and bar are open too late, even taking into account their stated willingness to close at 11:00 p.m.

2. There is concern that, given the statements in the application, that is claimed to be a restaurant will become a night club bar and lounge later in the evening.

3. Restaurant is too big for the location in which it is proposed. It has almost double the seating capacity of other restaurants in Eagle Rock.

4. Sale of a full line of alcohol, especially in close proximity to church and schools and residential uses.

5. Increase in traffic and commercial parking on residential streets due to the size of the proposed project and the lack of on-site parking. There was also concern that the valets would utilize residential streets in taking cars to and from the restaurant and bar.

6. Increased danger to children from drunk drivers and patrons and valets circulating through residential streets.

7. Adverse impact on neighbors and the residential neighborhood from restaurant and bar patrons due to noise and trespass when exiting late at night.

8. Impact on residents immediately adjacent to the proposed patio area due to noise and restaurant and bar patrons smoking in the patio.

9. Increased traffic hazard in an already hazardous area due to inadequate parking on-site and the need for valet parking.

10. Failure of patrons to use valets and parking on residential streets instead.

11. The menu submitted in the application did not seem to reflect a top quality restaurant but was more like a bar menu.

12. Granting parking credits for a restaurant that exceeded the 2,500 square foot limit set forth in the Guidelines for Implementation of the Pilot Parking Program for Eagle Rock is contrary to the intent of the Pilot Parking Program and would allow the pool of parking credits to be drained by one business, which is also contrary to the intent of the Pilot Parking Program.

The Board went to some lengths to be specific that it was not opposing any and all future proposals for restaurants on this site but that it was opposing this specific application as submitted due to the reasons set forth above. The Board will consider any and all subsequent applications and urges all applicants to work with the neighbors and stakeholders prior to going through the time and expense of submitting an application to the City. It's my understanding that the ERNC Planning and Land Use Committee will consider the application of Fat Dog at its next meeting to be held on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. or thereafter in the downstairs meeting room of Eagle Rock City Hall, on the northeast corner of Maywood and Colorado. If you have an opinion about this matter, you should be there.