Whether it’s a feeling of hopelessness, lack of actual work/reason to be, or the fact that in truth, you have little effect on the things that actually matter in this town, the NIMBY bomb has blown up lately. This example as well as this one are just a few articles of many which show that yes, one person can make a difference; if being a massive pain in the ass to everyone else is somehow making a difference.
Perhaps it’s out of the illusion of power that it generates or something else relating to a hatred of humanity in general, but one person has been blocking the outdoor seating application for Little Bird Coffeehouse for the last six months. One. Person. This lone voice in a sea of nearly 30,000 people that comprise this neighborhood is not representative nor is there any basis for this person (who doesn’t even live on the same street) to fight this application other than the fact they feel like fighting it and want to be contrary. At least that’s my guess, because who doesn’t like outdoor seating on a sunny day, especially on that block of Geary? (pictured above, sans outdoor seating)
So, much like the issue revolving around the parklet for farm:table, which by the way got approved and should be out very soon, we ask that you drop in to Little Bird to sign a petition to allow the permit process its due course. Or download it, sign it, and send it to them. (Let us emphasize that, as is often the case in this situations, the outdoor seating application was compliant with the city’s regulations and thus was approved by the planning commission.) The public hearing is Wednesday, March 2nd at City Hall, room 400 at 9:00 AM for those who can attend and are willing to show their support in person.
Disclaimer: We realize that, based on our last Little Bird article, it might not be the #1 spot of some of our readers, but we ask you to sign if for no other reason than to turn back this irrational tide of NIMBY bullshit and bring about some normality that doesn’t revolve around one squeaky wheel getting the grease. Also, some of you might be happy to learn that we have an article on Cafe Ariana coming up in the next days.
6 Comments until now
Bravo! The NIMBY Menace must be exposed and then turned back.
I think outdoor seating is a good thing, but…I am beginning to feel that some of these spaces are…um…a way for restaurants/bars (see the parklet outside Mojo on Divis) to enlarge their seating area without any major costs like rent. And if I were to just hang out on the street in front of my building on a warm sunny day drinking a beer or two or three might be viewed unfavorably.
Still, the cafe before Little Bird had outdoor seating and the cafes acress the street have outdoor seating, Little Bird ought to be allowed to have it too.
As long as it’s legally compliant (not violating the ADA or anything) and is in keeping with the city’s code, I don’t see how a single individual could block something like this because they don’t like it. Isn’t this why we have rules and regulations? To remove human emotion from the decision making process? Oh wait. LOL. This is San Francisco. There’s no rationale here. This whole place runs on kneejerk emtion.
Scurvy; there’s long fire escape above the cafe for residential tenants; the tables and chairs could potentially block it, and there’s code about this. A question was put to the city as to the code, which takes a public hearing.
This should all be resolved shortly and I expect outdoor seating will be made available shortly thereafter. It’s not a cheap permit, might want to buy a cup of coffee, it’s worth it, there’s a whole education that can come with it because they’re doing specialty coffee, handled a certain way.
Nick, the cafe doesn’t serve alcohol and will not allow people to sit with alcohol at their tables from the nearby bar. The owner is exceedingly clear on this point.
@Nick: you say that you feel like “some of these spaces are… um… a way for restaurants/bars to enlarge their seating area without any major costs like rent”.
But just to clarify, outdoor seating requires a permit that costs several hundred dollars and a parklet also requires the business owner to invest money in setting it up and maintaining but it then becomes public space for anyone to enjoy and not an extension of the business.
@Josh: the outdoors seating proposal by Little Bird took into consideration the fire escape and was compliant with the code (ie there was enough distance requirements by the Planning Commission). So that wasn’t the issue.