Letter to the editor: SLO’s unfair permitting process

October 28, 2014

OPINION By ALLAN COOPER

When San Luis Obispo City staff denied, in January, a bar/tavern use permit at 1060 Osos Street, their rationale was as follows: “A new bar/tavern, the 64th license downtown…compounds the state of over concentration and thwarts the city’s recent progress in controlling the downtown alcohol environment.”

In spite of this, planning staff this last week granted a use permit to a similar bar/tavern located at 1033 Chorro Street. The pretext for city staff’s approval is 1) that the bar will close at 10:00 P.M.; 2) that bar-related crime downtown (mostly related to assaults and vandalism in the evening) is going down, and; 3) this bar is compatible with the neighborhood.

Save Our Downtown maintains that 1) this bar will clearly contribute to SLO’s already out-of-hand “pub crawl” which begins well before 10: p.m.; 2) bar-related assaults and vandalism in the evening hours has not gone down over the past two years, and; 3) this bar, even by alcoholic beverage control’s somewhat lax standards, is not compatible with its neighborhood as it will be located a mere 200 feet from the entrance of the Old Mission Church.

We question why the city has so radically changed its position over the past 10 months.

Allan Cooper is a retired Cal Poly professor and a member of Save Our Downtown.