New Times / Letter To The Editor

Dear Shredder,

Allan Cooper

What part of this picture do you not understand (“Who you gonna save?” Nov. 8)? Fifty-nine percent of SLO business owners and residents recently polled are opposed to more bars and nightclubs in the Downtown. SLO has the highest number of bars per capita of any city in California (and perhaps the nation), and the number of alcohol outlets within our city continues to rise because the city presently lacks the controls to stop this.

The SLO Brew owners were proposing a 50 percent expansion in its new location (with a maximum capacity of 1,221 patrons) and the property owners reserve the right to place another bar/restaurant in its previous location. Finally the business owner across the street from the current SLO Brew admitted that he has had every store window broken over the past 10 years ostensibly because of his proximity to this establishment. In short, all Save Our Downtown is asking is that SLO Brew relocate at its current size without the right of the owner to open a new alcohol outlet in its previous location and that its bar/nightclub activities not encroach onto Mission Plaza.