Is Riverside/Avondale Ready For Mellow Mushroom?

[JeffreyS]

By the way, if you ever wonder why things have only gone so far in Jacksonville, and then stops just short of its potential, you are seeing the reason in progress as we speak.

^The most poignant statement written on this thread.

Little groups of unreasonable arrogant people are able to grind the wheels to a halt because they shriek loud enough about the sky falling, and they are coddled by the an unwillingness to stand up to them and say enough is enough.

Absolutely has happened over and over again.

This has gone on for thirty years, hopefully it is finally meeting some real pushback.

We can only hope.

[KEGreene1]

Surely we can all take a step back and notice that we are all neighbors and good people with good intentions.

I can vouch for Mr. Nussbaum, KEGreene (and I hope that he would vouch for me) that he is not a crazy old man, but in fact an attorney who has been an asset to his community his entire professional life.

This doesn't mean that he (or even I, or anyone else) cannot be tragically mistaken, as I believe the case to be in these present issues.  But he is due the same respect and civility that all of us would like.

That was actually my point (I like sarcasm and it doesn't often come off in print). IMO - a quiet period and/or a respect period would do everyone good.  While I meant it as sarcasm, I know I don't appreciate someone trying to compare a 6 lane stretch of roads that butt up to highways, to a two lane stretch in a mixed used area.  If that is the case I'm going to start saying I look like Tom Brady with a bank account like Bill Gates (I have sandy brown/blond hair and sell technology)  However, respect is a two way street and by providing a solid argument using facts instead of exaggerated statements earns not only my respect, but could sway me to your side.  Once you start saying things that you know are just not true, why should I believe anything you say? 

[Pinky]

Pinkie, I never said it was as bad as vomit or condoms. Why do you put words in my mouth? Using exaggeration to discredit a valid position?

Hey, Pinkie, where do you live, and can I bring my friends by to muck up your neighborhood?

Oh Wm...  Wm, Wm, Wm.  Take a pill; it was sarcasm.  It's humor Wm; look it up.

First of all Wm, you presume to have a "valid position", which I disagree with.  A pizza place opening in your neighborhood is NOT the end of civilization, nor will it lead to the sort of problems that I so comedically lampooned.  And really, for you to get all breathy about "someone using exaggeration to discredit a valid position" is hysterical, given the hyperbole, exaggeration and outright falsehoods contained in the "WeLove Avondale" position paper that we've all been having such a good laugh over.

And since you've asked: I live in the Churchwell Lofts at the corner of Market and Bay downtown.  PLEASE come on down, and I'll give you a tour of TSI, Marks, and The Dive Bar, all on my block, which are REAL ACTUAL NIGHTCLUBS, complete with loud music, and occasionally, actual rivers of vomit.  Then we'll jump in my car and head over to any of the Mellow Mushroom Restaurants for a comparison; your first round of crow is on me. 

Look Wm, clearly Avondale should address parking.  On some saturday nights it does get crowded over there.  But that shouldn't be a False Flag for a bunch of people who clearly have other agendas, nor does it justify the ridiculous crap being spewed in an effort to block the new MM. 

Stop throwing stones and go back into your glass house Wm; you're looking a little hypocritical here.

[KEGreene1]

Pinky says it better.  I will shut up now. 

[Pinky]

Pinky says it better.  I will shut up now.

Oh great; now Stephen's gonna yell at *me* instead of you...   

[Timkin]

Pinky says it better.  I will shut up now.

Oh great; now Stephen's gonna yell at *me* instead of you...   

Nah... I usually am the one getting corrected

[Intuition Ale Works]

Wanted to watch the LUZ committee meeting from last night and can not get it to play on my Windows Media Player.

Anyone else have similar issues?

FWIW, LUZ deferred on allowing Mellow Mushroom to withdraw their PUD application.

Reeks of politics...

[fieldafm]

FWIW, LUZ deferred on allowing Mellow Mushroom to withdraw their PUD application.

Reeks of politics...

+1

The site plan unfortunately has been compromised as well.  What was once a unique adaptive reuse project will now be something much less... in favor of MORE parking.  Great work We Love Avondale, you've managed to scrap a unique contextually sensitive plan so you can shove even more parking on the site.

When are we as a community going to stop taking the path of least resistance and start to eliminate the waste and inefficiency of constantly striving to increase parking supply in the neighoborhood instead of better managing existing parking supply?
 
There is a real void of a sensible, comprehensive parking and transportation plan in Riverside/Avondale and this simply perpetuates a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Is it not odd to anyone that the complaint of never having enough parking grows in direct proportion to the amount of parking supply provided?

Instead of creating a long-awaited solution, a group of business owners afraid of competition led this charge.  Now is that good for the neighborhood or just good for their bottom lines?

[Captain Zissou]

The blog, igetmellow.com, makes me want to cry.  You can see John and the Mellow crew trying so hard to meet the requests (however unfair they may be) of a few squeaky wheels.  They go SOOO far above and beyond what anyone on the strip has done to enhance the neighborhood, but it doesn't matter.  The liars ended up getting their way and now the development will not be anything close to what it could have been.  MM complying with weloveavondale's request has made it a worse use of the site with very little to offer the strip.  See below for the bastardization of what once was going to be an amazing project.

• Mellow will now not pursue its original plan for adaptive reuse of the gas station, and has agreed to demolish it and build a new building on St. John’s Avenue with a brand new parking lot behind it;
• Mellow originally proposed outdoor dining and large landscaped open space; Mellow has agreed to reduce the outside dining and open space to accommodate on-site parking;
•After making the above changes, Mellow proposed outdoor dining on the roof of the new building to compensate for lost outdoor dining; subsequently, at the request of the opposition group,  Mellow has agreed to abandon plans to construct a second story outside dining area;
•Mellow originally proposed to maximize parking by removing a landscape island on St. Johns Avenue and relocating a tree; Mellow has agreed to restore the parking island (despite loss of parking involved) at the opposition group’s request;
•Mellow originally proposed “soft” covered outdoor dining at the corner of St. Johns and Ingleside; Mellow has agreed to constrict “hard” covered outdoor dining at the corner at the opposition group’s request
•Mellow has reduced seats from an originally conceived 250, to 210.

A good point was made earlier in the igetmellow blog that I would like to take one step further.  Town had 85 seats indoors and 25 seats outside, or 110. They were only using a portion of that building.  A new restaurant could have easily gone up to 200 or so seats without providing one parking space or utilizing the gas station site.  If any other tenant occupied the gas station, we would be over 220 average users with no increase in parking.  MM offered 13 spaces plus 80 bike spaces for 250 seats.  Tell me, which would be better for the neighborhood?

I hope that mellow is at least allowed to have exclusive use of their parking lot, as they are the only venue on the strip to be obligated to give up square footage for parking.  The MM will still be a wonderful addition to the strip and a great neighbor for those of us in the area.  They are still going to have a great space and a quality product.  They will do all of this with a smile because they are quality people who really care about the neighborhood and doing things with transparency and integrity.  I'm sure once the Brick starts to decline that John will even send over a few free pizzas to say 'No hard feelings'.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

http://www.igetmellow.com/

Working with the Community in Avondale



As you may know, the Mellow Mushroom Avondale team has been having discussions with opposition group “We Love Avondale LLC” and representatives of Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP). During these discussions,  Mellow has made a considerable effort to be responsive and accommodating, and has agreed to a number of conditions:

• Mellow will now not pursue its original plan for adaptive reuse of the gas station, and has agreed to demolish it and build a new building on St. John’s Avenue with a brand new parking lot behind it;
• Mellow originally proposed outdoor dining and large landscaped open space; Mellow has agreed to reduce the outside dining and open space to accommodate on-site parking;
•After making the above changes, Mellow proposed outdoor dining on the roof of the new building to compensate for lost outdoor dining; subsequently, at the request of the opposition group,  Mellow has agreed to abandon plans to construct a second story outside dining area;
•Mellow originally proposed to maximize parking by removing a landscape island on St. Johns Avenue and relocating a tree; Mellow has agreed to restore the parking island (despite loss of parking involved) at the opposition group’s request;
•Mellow originally proposed “soft” covered outdoor dining at the corner of St. Johns and Ingleside; Mellow has agreed to constrict “hard” covered outdoor dining at the corner at the opposition group’s request
•Mellow has reduced seats from an originally conceived 250, to 210.
None of these decisions were easy to make, particularly the one to abandon adaptive reuse of the gas station, which we thought was in keeping with the way things should be done in an historic district. Nevertheless, we believe we owe it to our neighbors to do what we can address any local concerns.

“We Love Avondale LLC” and RAP  are also asking Mellow to agree to conditions relating to the operation of the restaurant.These conditions, which would apply only to Mellow and not to any of the other restaurants in the Shoppes of Avondale, make us a little uneasy.

Agreeing to them would restrict Mellow’s ability to compete for  customers and, given the close involvement of some local restaurants with “We Love Avondale LLC”, we are not at all comfortable that what we are being asked to do is reasonable or fair. These conditions include:

•Close up completely at midnight.
•No music or television sound played in any outside area after 9:00pm.
•No outside live music.
•No uses allowed in the parking lot area except parking, and deliveries between the hours of 9am and 5pm.
•Security provided to prevent nuisance behavior on Friday and Saturday evenings (Note: Mellow is willing to participate in any program organized by the neighbors and/or the Merchants’ Association but will not agree to provide this service alone).
Mellow has agreed to provide full food service during all times when alcohol is served and to prohibit live music after midnight.

We hope it is obvious that we have made ENORMOUS efforts to address local concerns - as we promised we would. We have tried hard not to be distracted from this by the  deeply unpleasant tactics of those opposing us and we will continue to concentrate on doing what is right.

Thank you very much for your support - you are a majority presence in our neighborhood and we will do our best to ensure that Mellow Mushroom Avondale is a place you can be proud of.

[fsquid]

what a joke

[CG7]

I guess neighbors, like me, who where in favor of the original plan get a plain, could be in any neighborhood restaurant. instead of something original. I guess next time we'll have to hire the lawyers to drown out the few whiners.

[Tacachale]

Very disappointing.

[Gators312]

http://www.igetmellow.com/


Thank you very much for your support - you are a majority presence in our neighborhood and we will do our best to ensure that Mellow Mushroom Avondale is a place you can be proud of.

Innovative adaptive reuse is something to be proud of. 

Rolling over for a few whiny, politically connected individuals is disappointing, but John needs to succeed at making money.  If this is what it takes then good for him.  At least he tried to present an innovative solution.

[Timkin]

So is the Mellow Mushroom going to proceed forward ?