Alcohol Policy Lands in a Reasonable Spot

After a long business trip to India and Singapore, I had a chance to watch the city council's meeting of October 4th. Thankfully, the council finally heard and acted upon the concerns of residents about the potential impact of removing E. Campbell Avenue and S. Winchester Avenue from the current alcohol policy.

I'll give credit where credit is due. Council members Waterman, Low and Baker changed their minds and decided to keep E. Campbell and S. Winchester under the protection of the alcohol policy. Council members Kotowski and Cristina voted against any changes to the policy. It's just unfortunate that it took as much city staff, resident and council resources to get to reasonable changes.

However, I would encourage residents to remain vigilant on 3 fronts as a result of the changes:

1. Watch out for expansion from the 5 existing late night bars, especially Katie Blooms and The Spot. They need to be in compliance with their conditional use permits (I personally witnessed violations of their C.U.P.s).  If they are not being good neighbors, they should not be granted the privilege of expanding.
2. Stay aware of the application by the operators of Myth and Sabor in San Jose to open an ultra-lounge in the Gaslighter building. An ultra-lounge is just a fancy word for night club/bar. Their business model is clear...restaurants by day, night club by night.
3. Hold the council members accountable for taking real steps to address the current problems created by the existing downtown late night bars.

Stay informed and committed to keeping Campbell's small town feel. 

The economy is cyclical, and downturns, like council members, come and go.  What remains constant and enduring is the community itself.

The opinions expressed here are the blogger's and not necessarily those of the local editor's or anyone affiliated with Patch.