In September 2009 James Bradberry, the owner of the San Francisco Rose, announced the creation of the Greenville Avenue Restaurant Association, which puts on the now-annual Taste of Greenville Avenue event scheduled for October. Which is not the point of this piece: Yesterday Unfair Park received a missive from Bradberry to, among others, council members Angela Hunt and Pauline Medrano and Mayor Tom Leppert in which the Rose's president says his organization is very much opposed to the proposed Planned Development District ordinance that would require all venues -- be it a tattoo or taco joint -- wanting to stay open past midnight to get a specific use permit.
The letter comes about a week after last week's Greenville Ave. meet-and-eat at Kush -- where Hunt, DPD Assistant Chief Vince Golbeck and other city officials met with business and eatery owners -- and one day before Hunt's sit-down at Vickery Towers. And while the full missive follows, here's an excerpt in which Bradberry outlines his group's problem with the proposal:
GARA believes it is unfair to include in the Planned Development District legitimate business activities -- legally-operated restaurants, bars, retail and personal services -- that are not the sources of trouble and crime reported between the hours of Midnight and 2am, and are not impacting the quality of life in the Lower Greenville area neighborhoods.
GARA does not believe a restaurant's hours of operation should be controlled or restricted by the City of Dallas through the use of zoning requirements, the City Plan Commission and/or the City Council. If a means to restrict hours is needed to control the so-called 'bad bars,' we prefer this jurisdiction be reserved to a City licensing panel (such as the Board of Adjustment or Dance Hall licensing process).
