New Times / Letter To The Editor

Forget the booze; give me the facts!

Michelle Barnes

I read your paper all the time, love it. I read a rebuttal article by Sandra Davis Lakeman of Save Our Downtown (“Save Our Downtown deserves better,” Nov. 15) and a letter to the editor from Allan Cooper (“Dear Shredder,” Nov. 15) of the same group. Both of them stated SLO has the highest number of bars per capita of any city in California, Mr. Cooper thinks perhaps the nation.

Where did they discover that information? I did a little research, never saw that. I saw references to San Francisco and San Jose. I like downtown and visit frequently. I don't drink, so that is not my interest—I am a fact freak, and I love downtown.

Editor’s note: Allan Cooper provided New Times with his calculations, which he then compared to a Trulia Trends list of the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas for drinking, which faactored bars per 10,000 households. The only California city on that list is San Francisco, with six bars per capita. Cooper then figured San Luis Obispo as boasting 6.7 bars per 10,000 population -- not households ('which is even worse," he wrote) by listing 33 bars in the city divided by 4.9 (derived from SLO's 49,000 people). To figure 33 bars, he includes, as bars, restaurants that have a bar and wine shops that serve their products.*

*This article was modified on Nov. 28 to include last minute changes to the editor's note. The figures in the note were included in our print edition, but weren't changed on files used online.