Is Riverside/Avondale Ready For Mellow Mushroom?

[Know Growth]

"RAP" did not campaign for more parking....Overlay proceedings simply reflective of a City that never could say no to "growth","consensus" and an always curious public participation/public 'workshop' process.

[Know Growth]

/quote]



Anyone should approach Issue Identification,Response with that possibility in mind.
KG

[cityimrov]

Is Riverside/Avondale ready for a streetcar or will the local residents protest against one? 

[thelakelander]

My guess is there is a crowd that would be against the concept and another crowd that would be for it.  Sort of like the whole parking thing.  In a diverse neighborhood, you're going to have opinions all over the place.

[JeffreyS]

So the crowd against would like the wonderful neighborhood Riverside is and can be. The crowd for more parking is jealous of and hopes to make Riverside into an Oakleaf area.

They will say they don't want to be Oakleaf but if it quacks like a duck.

[Allan D]

Rap is supporting the bill as are many existing restaurants and i hear folks like Adam hollingsworth...

I can understand a resident supporting this, but all but one of the existing restaurants want to close the door behind themselves. 

Where is the 50% on-site for Biscottis, Fox, Ginjo, West Inn, Casbah and Brick (who could claim contiguous)?  While this knee jerk bill successfully stifles the popularity of the Shoppes of Avondale to profitable restaurants, it could severely hinder current and future revitalization of other Commercial Character Areas. 

And is requiring one particular class of restaurant (those that serve any alcohol at all) to adhere to a different set of rules than any other retail or non-alcohol restaurant establishment legal?  From a zoning perspective, restaurants can serve beer and wine by right, but liquor requires approval.  This seems like a more palatable solution and more easy to defend.

Several weeks ago, Donovan Rypkema http://www.placeeconomics.com/about-us/who-we-are, spoke to a group on both sides of the fence in Avondale.  One of my take away's was that restrictive laws that are business specific should be avoided at all cost and the free market with organized group management should drive the train.

Parking on residential streets is an issue and one that needs to be addressed.  Business specific laws that single out and contradict a free market are for deed restricted neighborhoods. 

[Tacachale]

I can understand some people wanting to cap development in a specific area, but tying it directly to parking is a terrible way to go about it. What happens when one of the existing restaurants in contributing structures closes, and someone wants to "convert" it into another restaurant? Would the new restauranteurs have to add parking that doesn't currently exist? This is just adding unnecessary red tape.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I haven't seen the actual proposal but from the info garnered here, I think this is one of the more mal-intentioned proposals that I've heard recently.

You can build a restaurant in a contributing structure with ZERO parking regulations as long as you don't serve booze. 

It seems like JL is implying that we need a parking lot designated for drinkers only.  It's illegal to drink and drive, but if you do, we need you to park over here ------>.

Here's a suggestion, why don't we write some legislation that requires everyone with a BMI Index over 30 to park at least .5 miles away from restaurants that use butter.

[mtraininjax]

John and other "merchants in Avondale" should buy the empty lot on the south side of St. Johns Avenue, just west of Dancy and turn this into parking. Simple and easy solution with a lot that is empty and just a uncontrolled area of weeds.

[Captain Zissou]

Well I hate to say it but Captain Zissou posted his brave declaration on May 4th, its already the 9th and we still haven't heard anything from him. I think it's safe to say that he and his entire crew must have died during their dangerous excursion to MM.

Sorry I haven't followed up on this. On May 7th I started at a new job that has kept me very busy. The MM fact-finding mission was a partial failure due to unforeseen circumstances. Those circumstances were that at about 60% of the tables (on a Friday night after 9), there were mainly children dining with one or two adults. I'm guessing a lot of kids were having sleepovers and their parents wanted to take the kids out to MM for some early evening tequila shots (obviously joking). By kids, I mean children who looked to be 12 or younger. If you were to have gone to the local Cici's pizza that night, I doubt you would have found more kids than were at MM. I didn't feel comfortable approaching these tables for pictures or quotes, so I didn't have much to report back. A large percentage of the remaining tables were college track athletes who clearly had just been at a meet at UNF. The final percentage was older people (50+) who were drinking wine and enjoying the pleasant evening weather. The only table that looked like it would fit the description of the hoodlums who are going to destroy Avondale if MM opens was our own. Our table was made up of an attorney, a law student, two coastal engineers, a financial analyst, and a sales manager at a medical company. We are all between the ages of 25 and 30 and all but one of us already live in Avondale. So....Hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husbands....

[Know Growth]

Why would the owner of Bluefish give a shit about MM.........does MM serve oyster pizza? I'm confused...

The owner of Bluefish understood the importance of serving signature Bluefish first course; parking

[Ocklawaha]

Well I hate to say it but Captain Zissou posted his brave declaration on May 4th, its already the 9th and we still haven't heard anything from him. I think it's safe to say that he and his entire crew must have died during their dangerous excursion to MM.

The only table that looked like it would fit the description of the hoodlums who are going to destroy Avondale if MM opens was our own. Our table was made up of an attorney, a law student, two coastal engineers, a financial analyst, and a sales manager at a medical company. We are all between the ages of 25 and 30 and all but one of us already live in Avondale. So....Hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husbands....

But Captain, did y'all remember to take all of those beer bottles and toss them into the nearest unsuspecting yard? Opportunity missed I guess. Darn engineers will do it every time.

[PeeJayEss]

I haven't seen the actual proposal but from the info garnered here, I think this is one of the more mal-intentioned proposals that I've heard recently.

You can build a restaurant in a contributing structure with ZERO parking regulations as long as you don't serve booze. 

It seems like JL is implying that we need a parking lot designated for drinkers only.  It's illegal to drink and drive, but if you do, we need you to park over here ------>.

Here's a suggestion, why don't we write some legislation that requires everyone with a BMI Index over 30 to park at least .5 miles away from restaurants that use butter.

Hahaha! +1
Seriously, is this bill about parking or is it about teetotalers? It seems to be the 2nd. Somebody doesn't want drinking in R/A. I'll tell you what, if the neighborhood goes dry, I'm moving to Murray Hill. I'd rather be in the Wild West than sober.

Well I hate to say it but Captain Zissou posted his brave declaration on May 4th, its already the 9th and we still haven't heard anything from him. I think it's safe to say that he and his entire crew must have died during their dangerous excursion to MM.

The only table that looked like it would fit the description of the hoodlums who are going to destroy Avondale if MM opens was our own. Our table was made up of an attorney, a law student, two coastal engineers, a financial analyst, and a sales manager at a medical company. We are all between the ages of 25 and 30 and all but one of us already live in Avondale. So....Hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husbands....

But Captain, did y'all remember to take all of those beer bottles and toss them into the nearest unsuspecting yard? Opportunity missed I guess. Darn engineers will do it every time.

Guilty as charged. Unfortunately, we had to drive for 10 minutes to get to a house to throw the bottles in a yard, ya know, since southside isn't walkable like our fair neighborhood. We should be proud to have bottles thrown in our yard. Its the sign we live in a thriving, diverse neighborhood. Joking aside, Jim Love has lost my vote.

Edit: Anyone have a link to the proposed bill? Or could you post the text?
Edit edit: Nevermind. I was being lazy. http://cityclts.coj.net/coj/COJBillList.asp?Bill=2012-0339

[Know Growth]

Why would the owner of Bluefish give a shit about MM.........does MM serve oyster pizza? I'm confused...

The owner of Bluefish understood the importance of serving signature Bluefish first course; parking

Ah, back to your faux environmentalism again, eh North Miami?

That all 'ya got?

Frank's Sterlings placement parking angle was significant, more so than we could have imagined.

The only thing Faux was the assumption that Avondale would yield refuge from rediculous,predictable growth pressures,although admittably there has always been intuitive caution.
Took a bit longer to figure MJ out.

[mtraininjax]

From the Mellow Mushroom Twitter account: Good info on what John is trying to bring to the old gas station:

http://www.igetmellow.com/post/25157363003/a-community-mellow-mushroom