![\"North](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/bar.jpg\" "\\"bar\\"")
<\/a>A North Park resident has created an organization to fight what he believes is a flood of bars coming into the 30th Street and University Avenue business district.<\/p>\nDon Leichtling said he established the North Park Residential Improvement District (NP-RID) in January because he is concerned about the potential for more alcohol licenses to be granted in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s three clubs in North Park, that\u2019s all right, but if there are 30, at some point we\u2019re going to top out,\u201d Leichtling said.<\/p>\n
The three clubs he cites are U-31, 3112 University Ave.; True North, which opened last year at 30th Street and North Park Way; and URBN Coal Fired Pizza, 3085 University Ave., which is slated to open soon.<\/p>\n
Leichtling, who lives a few blocks from the district, said drunken bar patrons have vandalized his car and home, vomited on his porch, had sex in his yard and attacked his neighbor. He said other residents have experienced similar disturbances, which have increased in frequency in the last few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen North Park change drastically, and it has the potential to get much worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Yet Steve Billings, who opened U-31 in 2007, said he has seen a dramatic decrease in crime since purchasing the property in 1998.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first bought this bar I wouldn\u2019t walk alone to 30th Street at 12 o\u2019clock at night, or I\u2019d be cautious of my surroundings, but now it\u2019s not uncommon for females to walk alone from here to 30th any day of the week,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s liveliness, there\u2019s activity, there\u2019s movement and it\u2019s really pushed the crime element away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, U-31 hasn\u2019t been free of conflict with its neighbors.<\/p>\n
Valerie Loy, who lives off the alley behind U-31, said she has consistently complained to business owners and police about noise from the bar, trash left behind by patrons and people drinking outside her home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bar had heavy bass going on\u2026our windows would literally rattle\u2026and it was causing a lot of havoc in the neighborhood with people lingering in the alley, doing drugs and urinating and creating a lot of noise and there was trash all over,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In October, Loy spoke with Billings. He addressed her complaints by installing a lock on U-31\u2019s amplifiers, adding $40,000 worth of soundproofing on the roof and building a wall along the alleyway. He also hired additional security and outside \u201crovers\u201d who ask patrons and passersby to be respectful of the neighborhood by keeping the noise down.<\/p>\n
Despite the improvements at U-31, Loy said URBN Coal Fire Pizza \u2013 scheduled to open soon across the street from U-31 \u2013 will only exacerbate the problems. Along with her neighbors, she filed a formal protest with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control against URBN\u2019s liquor license.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve talked to a lot of renters, like me, who have had some sort of negative experience from these bars opening up,\u201d she said. \u201cWe canvassed the neighborhood and got plenty of other people to protest [URBN\u2019s liquor license] as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
URBN owner Jon Mangini said he is solely interested in operating a restaurant at the location, although he hopes his license will allow URBN to remain open until 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re giving the neighborhood a great place,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really going to clean up that corner that\u2019s been vacant for so long. We want to be a bar, but more than that we want to be a restaurant, and I just can\u2019t see a restaurant hurting the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of the 10 new alcohol license applications ABC is reviewing for North Park, the community has only protested URBN and a microbrewery planned for the Pacific Drapery Building next to True North at 30th Street and North Park Way, ABC District Administrator Jennifer Hill said.<\/p>\n
She said both establishments received numerous protests, which go on public record after ABC\u2019s legal unit reviews them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe application submitted at [the proposed microbrewery] has 92 valid protests,\u201d Hill said via e-mail. \u201cThe application submitted [by URBN] has had numerous protests submitted, but the department is still awaiting determination of validity and acceptance by the ABC legal unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The protest period for the microbrewery ended Dec. 31 while protests closed for URBN Feb. 6. An ABC investigation can take up to 90 days.<\/p>\n
The San Diego Police Department has protested most of the license applications, she said, but has also expressed a willingness to withdraw its objections if establishments adhere to operating restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t permit entertainment, it\u2019s pretty hard for them to be anything but a restaurant, and if 50 percent of their quarterly gross sales have to be food and you make them close at 11 or midnight, there\u2019s really no way for them to become a bar, a party place or a club, because they don\u2019t have those features which would draw that crowd,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n
But those guidelines are not always enough, said Dan Tomsky, senior project manager for Vitality San Diego, which works with the city\u2019s communities to promote public health and safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s really not substantial enough community powers to see that these places are being adequately considered for possible impacts they have on the neighborhood and whether they are coming along with clear mitigation plans to the kind of problems they may create,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really a matter of three things: size, scale and balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill said ABC limits licenses based on residential population by census tract. The University Avenue and 30th Street area is on the boundary of census tracts 13 and 14, which stretch from El Cajon Boulevard south to Upas Street and from Arizona Street east to Ray Street.<\/p>\n
Tract 13 is allowed seven on-sale licenses \u2013 permits that allow businesses to serve alcohol \u2013 but 21 have been granted. Tract 14 is allowed four on-sale licenses, yet 20 were granted. Hill said ABC allows for these exceptions based on \u201cpublic convenience or necessity,\u201d which the police department determines for bars and clubs, and ABC decides for restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a revitalization area, if there\u2019s growth, if they\u2019re offering a service that is not commonly offered at the time and if there\u2019s no objections from anyone in the community, then that\u2019s sort of the silent way of saying it is meeting the public necessity,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n
When new owners take over an existing license, she added, ABC is only required to investigate the owner\u2019s business plan, not the location, as has been the case for many bars in North Park including True North, U-31, and the Bluefoot bar at 30th and Upas streets.<\/p>\n
Despite concerns such as those coming from NP-RID, Hill said the number of registered complaints about existing license holders is relatively low. In 2009, there were just four complaints filed from North Park, and that was the most filed in at least five years, Hill said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t received a lot of complaints in the North Park area,\u201d Hill said. \u201c[There are] some census tracts where we get five a month\u2026so four over the whole year, that\u2019s a really low count.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Diego police issued 99 drunk-in-public and 41 DUI citations in North Park between Nov. 21 and Feb. 20 but Tomsky said many alcohol-related offenses go unreported because the police department is short-handed and ill-equipped due to budget cuts. He said his North Park Action Team \u2013 a grassroots group of residents who work on quality-of-life issues \u2013 has tracked a notable increase in bar-related crime over the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community relations officers are stretched,\u201d Tomsky said. \u201c[The CROs] for the North Park area serve the whole Western Division, which includes Ocean Beach and that whole area too, so they\u2019re not as present as we would like, or they would like, to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tomsky said the city\u2019s agencies need to work together, along with North Park residents, to find a community planning solution that will meet residents\u2019 needs while still allowing business development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be land-use guidelines addressing size, scale and balance of restaurants doubling as bars or clubs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With more bar and restaurant patrons in North Park, parking is also becoming a major issue, Tomsky said.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Studebaker, executive director of North Park\u2019s business improvement district, said the city has increased hours, hired more security and added additional lighting at the neighborhood\u2019s parking garage, which charges a $5 flat-rate after 5 p.m. At least one bar, True North, validates parking.<\/p>\n
\u201cExacerbation has been prevented even further by some of these solutions,\u201d she said. \u201cBut infrequent visitors are still parking on the street, and that\u2019s probably where a lot of the impacts are being seen in the residential area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leichtling said enough isn\u2019t being done about parking.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are too cheap to park in the parking garage, so they park in the street,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Leichtling said he wants the city to establish a parking district in North Park, installing meters and providing residents with parking passes.<\/p>\n
But those ideas are falling on deaf ears, Leichtling said, because too many people in North Park\u2019s planning and business groups are unaffected by the problems. They \u201clive in Burlingame,\u201d he said, and aren\u2019t directly affected by the decisions they make.<\/p>\n
Studebaker said most members of the advisory and community boards that make decisions about North Park live in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the criticism is that nobody on the planning committee lives close to the district, that nobody making any of these decisions is impacted by them, and it\u2019s just not true,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The North Park Planning Committee roster shows two of its 15 members live in Burlingame \u2013 an enclave sandwiched between North Park and South Park \u2013 although none live immediately adjacent to the business district.<\/p>\n
Studebaker said more organizations such as NP-RID will only muddle efforts to find compromise between business growth and residential comfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already have a residential organization here and it exists to work primarily on residents\u2019 quality of life issues, so the development of a new organization I\u2019m quite frankly confused about,\u201d Studebaker said. \u201cThe last thing we need is one more group when we have all the community infrastructure in place. It just needs to be utilized appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Studebaker said it is important to keep in mind that North Park has been a business district for more than 100 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile many of the adjacent communities have been quiet and low key for the last 20 years, the commercial zoning has been in place for a long time,\u201d Studebaker said. \u201cFrom an economic perspective, a lot of people still see North Park as a good place to invest because it\u2019s not oversaturated.\u201d<\/p>\n
District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria said although the North Park business community benefits the community, it needs to respect residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeighbors, bar and other business owners, the city and the State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control must all work together to ensure that standards and conditions are implemented and met by businesses who wish to operate in North Park,\u201d Gloria said.<\/p>\n
Studebaker said she believes businesses will respond if residents show a willingness to cooperate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to stop screaming at each other and we all need to work together and sit down in a calm, civilized manner and talk about solutions,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is not in the best interest of any business to have a bad reputation. They want to fit in to this community, they want to be successful and they want to have a positive image. I think where we find the most serious issue is where there\u2019s a communication breakdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
To that end, Hill is organizing a community meeting this month for North Park residents and business owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe meeting is going to be scheduled to educate the community on the statutes and policies of the ABC licensing and enforcement processes,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is to inform them and to open communication for their concerns concerning ABC licenses in general.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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