Some residents complain about midtown's raucous night life
By Mary Lynne Vellinga -
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Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, April 12, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B3
Hector Amezcua /
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Restaurant manager Erick Johnson says the conditions placed on the G.V. Hurley's liquor license put him at a competitive disadvantage.
Depending on your perspective, the new G.V. Hurley's restaurant on J Street is either part of a fragile flowering of night life in midtown, or a potential menace.
When G.V. Hurley's filed its application to sell alcohol, more than 80 people from the surrounding neighborhood around 28th and J streets signed letters in protest – saying that the growing concentration of bars and restaurants on the corner was hurting their quality of life.
The letters, submitted to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, were collected by a group of longtime midtown residents who complain that their once-quiet neighborhood streets are now filled with loud, drunken patrons leaving restaurants that serve drinks long after their kitchens shut down.
"The problem has shifted from an over-concentration of social services and cheap neighborhood bars to high-end bars," complained Vito Sgromo, who has lived in a Craftsman-style house on 28th Street for 24 years.
"What's the difference?" he said. "You're bringing high-end people to use the neighborhood as a urinal and a parking lot."
Despite the protests, an administrative law judge last month ruled in favor of G.V. Hurley's, and the restaurant opened with a provisional license, pending the completion of an appeal period.
"Two people showed up to the protest hearing," said Lori Ajax, ABC's district administrator.
Neighborhood activists have moved on to a new target. They plan to protest plans by the partners in the Old Soul coffee roaster and bakery in midtown to obtain a license to serve beer and wine in the former Weatherstone coffeehouse, now called Old Soul at the Weatherstone, on 21st Street in Boulevard Park.
While the restaurant owners have said they will operate a quiet, neighborhood eatery, Dale Kooyman, who has lived for 30 years at 21st and H streets, said such promises in the past have turned out to be hollow.
"The original owners can be ever so good, but in order to stay in business, they've got to meet the competition," Kooyman said.
The views expressed by Kooyman and other midtown activists are at odds with the city's strategy of encouraging more bars and restaurants to enliven midtown streets that a few years ago were dark and deserted at night.
"I think we want midtown to be a vibrant place where people can go get a good meal and entertainment," said Sacramento City Manager Ray Kerridge, who is buying a row house in the Sutter Brownstones project under construction at 28th and N streets.
"For me, it's an ambience thing," Kerridge said.
"If I live in midtown or downtown, there's an expectation that there's going to be some hustle and bustle."
Midtown developer Mike Heller said midtown needs more dining and drinking establishments, not less. He said the city should stand up to the protests of a vocal minority and make sure ABC is on board as well.
"We're pandering too much to the handful of people … and their voice is being heard too much by the City Council and the ABC," Heller said. "All it takes is one protest to put that liquor license at risk.
"I think it's a a very fragile existence we have here," Heller added. "It would be one thing if the mayor and council said the vision we have for this city is we want it to remain a sleepy little town with nice trees. … But that's not the case. Everybody's wanting us to do this stuff."
According to ABC records, there are now 172 restaurants and bars authorized to sell beer, wine or liquor in the 95814 ZIP code that covers much of midtown and downtown.
That's a 17 percent increase from the 147 such establishments that existed in 2003, and a 26 percent rise from 136 in 1998. ZIP code 95816, which covers the eastern portion of midtown, has seen a 21 percent increase in licenses during the past decade.
Sacramento Police Sgt. Matt Young said some of the new venues "have absolutely negatively impacted the neighbors," but said that on the whole, the night life upswing has been positive.
"Having people out there walking around who are law-abiding citizens is fantastic for this city," he said.
The city has not assigned more police to midtown to handle the larger number of visitors, he said. Instead, it has reorganized, creating an "entertainment team" to address night life-related problems.
ABC is responsible for issuing licenses to sell alcoholic beverages. Ajax said her department tries to be sensitive to neighborhood concerns but needs to have "good cause" to turn down an applicant.
"We normally don't deny licenses," she said.
The agency does impose operating conditions, however. For G.V. Hurley's, she said, the list of such conditions was "extensive."
Owned by three prominent businessmen, the restaurant features organic meat and fish served in high-backed booths. Manager Erick Johnson said food – not alcohol – is the attraction.
Still, signs on patio railings along the block advertise the corner's nighttime identity as a watering hole. Signs invite people to a Second Saturday "bloc party" at Centro Cocina Mexicana, Harlow's, the Blue Cue and other nearby eateries.
Johnson said the conditions on G.V. Hurley's license put him at a competitive disadvantage. On most weekdays, he can stay open only until midnight, while others can serve until 2 a.m.
Only 20 people at a time can be out on the G.V. Hurley's patio, and they must be seated in order to get a drink. "Right next door, there are two patios that can have 100 people out on them," Johnson said.
Besides agreeing to such conditions, G.V. Hurley's is paying for private security on Thursday nights, a service already funded on Friday and Saturday by neighboring restaurateurs Randy Paragary and Peter Torza.
Nine of the restaurants between J and N streets also have joined forces in a new business improvement district that will raise $180,000 to pay for cleaning, safety services, maintenance and marketing, Paragary said.
He said that the restaurant owners have been trying harder to listen to neighborhood concerns.
"Sometimes some of the neighbors have exaggerated the problems, but when it's affecting you, it's not an exaggeration," he said. "On the other hand, I think maybe we were under-sympathetic to their plight. I think we maybe could have been better neighbors."
http://www.sacbee.com/crime/story/856332-p2.html
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I would gladly loose a few restaurants for retail and other commercial uses. Diversity is a good thing.
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