Sometimes You Go To Town Hall and It Feels Pretty Good

A few weeks ago, the young couple who ran the Posh Bagel left the business and were quickly replaced. Lots of people asked me what happened and I had no idea. I’m not a bagel guy, nor am I newspaper. However I passed along some information in a few posts that seemed fairly credible. I have an extreme sense of fair play and honesty so I wanted to be sure to vent all sides of the situation that I was aware of. Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows that I have no hesitation about pointing out the shortcomings of the local government. However, because I demand to always be treated honestly and fairly, I, as well, try to treat others with respect and fairness. I went to a meeting Wednesday night in the Los Gatos Council Chambers that was the most cool, calm, collected, and PRODUCTIVE meeting I have attended there. It certainly deserves to be mentioned.

It wasn’t a council or a commission meeting, no decisions were made. It was simply an informational meeting where town staff made their progress known to interested residents, regarding the upcoming entertainment permits that have been discussed. This issue has been brewing and stewing for the last few years and as it could possibly effect a good number of my friends and associates, I wanted to get the straight skinny and not a second-hand retelling. When concerned with some controversy, I prefer to get the info first-hand, not skewed by some journalist’s edited and tweaked take on things, be it a Viet Nam protest in the 1960s or an entertainment permit in 2013.

Since nothing is yet set in stone regarding this new town permit, I don’t want to dwell on the details discussed for the new permits but rather on the discussion, itself, that took place in the Chambers that night. Including the six or seven town staffers, there weren’t many more than thirty or so people who attended this meeting, thinly strewn about the rear periphery of the room. It was pretty obvious who the business owners were and who were the concerned residents. There was an air of anticipation floating around but there wasn’t any real “gnashing of teeth” contentiousness that I’ve seen in that room before.

Staff took about a half an hour with a “Power Point” type of presentation which outlined the particular points that the permits are supposed to address. It was pretty simple, direct and easily comprehended. As the room was opened up for discussion, it was clear that the residents didn’t want to have anymore drunks running around town in the middle of the night and the business owners wanted to have a fair shake at paying their bills. A curious aspect developed in the discussion was that especially interesting to me and that was how several of the residents noted that while existing laws were on the books, governing some aspects of the current entertainment situation, town staff hasn’t been real active in enforcing these existing laws in some cases, and are overly active in other cases, such as the closing of the Wood Shed several months ago. This same observation was the topic of my last posting. It was fairly clear that there were three . . .

(Click here to read the conclusion)