Clueless Council Punts on Alcohol Policy

After public comment provided in two study sessions, one downtown sub-committee meeting and a regular city council meeting, the Campbell City Council still could not reach a consensus for if, and how, the Downtown Alcohol Beverage Policy should be modified.

On the evening of Sept. 6, the full council met in a study session to consider the of the downtown council sub-committee to make certain changes to the policy. You can watch the session on the city’s website. After an hour and half of public comment (the majority of which clearly stated that the existing policy should not be changed) the council discussed the merits of the recommendation for another hour.

Unable to provide clear direction to city staff on which option they were interested in pursuing, the council finally asked staff to simply bring back the same recommendation to their next regularly scheduled council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 4 along with any new information on the feasibility of imposing a fee on new bars and restaurants to offset costs of police resources. The three options were make changes consistent with the recommendation, make changes different from the recommendation, or make no changes.

For those in attendance and who watched the circus via the city’s online streaming feed, it was disheartening and disturbing. Council member Evan Low set the tone very early in the public comment section by asking residents to provide "solutions" to allow new operators for the Gaslighter and Oddfellows buildings/projects instead of sharing their concerns about the proposed changes to the policy.

To their credit, the council sat and listened to the constant drumbeat of local residents who strongly called upon the council to either not make any changes at all or at least slow down the process to better study the issues. It had to be difficult to hear residents call them out as not listening to their concerns or being proper stewards of the community’s trust.

I made the suggestion that the council adopt Option 3 – No changes to the policy, and later as part of a work item for next year appoint a task force comprised of residents along the E. Campbell and S. Winchester to study the character of those neighborhoods and whether changes to the policy would make sense. The council loosely discussed the task force idea but could not reach consensus.

Only Vice-Mayor Mike Kotowski argued for maintaining the balance between vibrant day-time and night-time uses by retaining the existing policy as is.

Mayor Jason Baker attempted to justify removing E. Campbell and S. Winchester from the policy by placing his trust in the planning commission and future councils to do the right thing on a case-by-case basis.

Council member Jeff Cristina declared that having more late night activity was a good thing for the city and that, “If I wanted to live somewhere that was dead, I would have moved to Willow Glen.”

At one point, Councilman Low wondered out loud, “I’m not sure we are the right body to solve this problem.”  Huh???

In one of the more comical moments of the council’s deliberation, they were dumbfounded as to how the residents could feel as though their concerns were not being heard. Ultimately, they chalked it up to a “perception issue.”

Here’s the reality:

1. Campbell police department has cautioned against changing the policy.
2. Downtown Campbell Business Association has taken an official stand that “we feel that the night time land use is at – or even may have past – the point of a vibrant balance.” (letter submitted to council)
3. Former council members Jane Kennedy, Dan Furtado and yours truly have strongly opposed changing the current policy.
4. Most importantly, residents have spoken loud and clear that changes to the policy will send the city down a path inconsistent with its values and vision…they did so via email, via personal conversations with council and in public meetings on July 19, Aug. 2, Aug. 11 and Sept. 6.
5. A community survey of neighborhood and business associations found that over half (51%) disagreed with changing the policy to allow more bars and (53%/49%) disagreed with removing E. Campbell and S. Winchester from the policy respectively.
6. Los Gatos has initiated a process to enact stricter alcohol regulation for its downtown establishments

In parking lot conversations and email traffic following the study session, one word repeatedly came up – RECALL.

Let’s hope by the Oct. 4 council meeting, that the council members have taken to heart the input from the community and make a decision consistent with the vision and values of Campbell, that demonstrates an understanding of the issues and the desires of its residents.

Residents, you need to make your voice heard one more time on Oct. 4 or perhaps find a new venue to make your message loud and clear… some have suggested a recall election might be the right thing.

Joe Hernandez also blogs at: http://www.campbellfirst.tumblr.com on issues of importance to Campbell

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