home | reference | boisevoice

present: nocole, martha, jon, Patrick + Josh (crow bar), Cira, Neil, Barbara + Brian + Richard (laughing planet), Dave + CHristi (Blue Gardenia), Maya and Anna

1. Pending Liquor License Applications.

• need to getermine if community approves
• crow bar (full bar), blue gardenia (wine and beer), Por Que No (wine and beer), Pasta Bangs (outdoor seating), Doris Cafe (wine and beer)
• Justin will be touching base with applicants re: good neighbor agreements
• Nicole asked if board members have heard objections -Jon: only for outdoor seating
  -Nicole: same as above, plus loss of parking
• Brian of Laughing Planet does not beleive their license will contribute to traffic and they put a high priority on trying to fit in and bring in walkers, bikes and mass transit users. THey ewncourage theri workers to live nearby.
• patrick: every 2nd wednesday crow bar hosts an alcohol serving business meeting that nicole visits -- good oppurtunity for information to be passed
• patrick: what should we do about the good neighbor agreements?
• nicole: i'll get with you
• christi: whats involved? (nicole and patrick ran it down)
• dave: how do we reach people who wont come to meeting?
• nicole: post flyers
• richard: who owns the overgrown vancant lot next to pistils
• kay said who owns it and that we need to start calling the city every 2 weeks
• richard of LP says they'd love to lease it and do raised bed gardening there
• nicole suggest putting that on our next meeting agenda
• returning to license issue: kay reported a loud complainer who told her "why ar eyou allowing all these liquor businesses here? they'll degrade the street" but her own feeling is that the Crow Bar has really done a great job and the restaurants in general have been really proactive.
• neil and cira arrived and richard of LP repeated his schtick about community gardening
• Neil: concerned about the saturation of liquor businesses: noise, mess left on the streets, AYOS is surrounded by liquor businesses. a few years ago everyone was concerned to keep liquor businesses out, saying there are too many people on drugs and alcohol. now theyre only concerned about drugs.
• dave (BG): said he doesnt beleive theirs will be a destination liquor business. what can they do to help?
• neil repeated above concerns plus parking
• Christi said she lived in NW growing up and saw the explosive growth there. asked whether all growth is negative. said they basically want to be able to serve a glass of port with their dessert - they're not going to sell bottles of cheap wine.
• neil: well that brings up class issues - a lot of neighbors are moving back to the south because they dont feel like the culture here is there own anymore.
• dave: getting back to neils issue of noise and parking -- if we work with the community in a crow bar style, will that address your issues?
• neil: its a start
• nicole: concerned that theres alot of willingness on the part of the businesses opening on this street and if the street doesnt reciprocate and those businesses go away they will probably be replaced by corporate chains who wont work with us at all.
• christi: basically raked neil over coals and called him a hypocrite for opposing businesses that he hasnt even tried. what will satisfy him?
• neil: fewer liquor licenses. described recent incident with crow bar customers who kicked over his tomatoes and drove off (discussion of race issues ensued)
• kay gave her history of miss. business
• nicole says ross is working on a statistical examination of what has happened with businesses and residents
• neil concerned the racial tension could turn to violenusinesses ce/incarceration/cycle of criminality for neighborhood youths while business patrons could end up being victims of crime.
• neil asked if BG could get by without liquor?
• yes, but they want to provide a particular experience.
• neil: if an alcohol problem developed in the neighborhood, would businesses be strong enough to STOP selling it?
• Patrick: not Crow Bar, but that's why we are working so hard to manage our impact (converstion ensued about management of troublesome drunks - Patrick and Josh went to Mennonite COllege and have a non-violent approach to dealing with bad drunks)
• neil: hard liquor will change the nature of troublesome drunks.
• josh: yes, but we think that if people can have a one-stop bar experience with us they wont be getting soused elsewhere and finishing with beer (and trouble) at the crow bar
• Dave: if a big alcohol problem develops in the neighborhood, that will mean we have failed to do our job right.
• Richard: talked about how LP is just going to serve beer with burrito. the community has to communicate when there are problems because they will want to address their problems.
• kay: doesnt drink and wishes alcohol didnt exist in the world...then provided another brief history of liquor licenses on the street
• neil: the 6 new licenses, is that 6 on top of the 8?
• nicole: clarified somewhat
• patrick: he'ws concerned there are other businesses who are contributing to the problems Neil is seeing, Crow Bar is getting blamed, and those other businesses arent even willing to come to the table
• nicole: suggested writing [attendance at liquor serving beusinesses meeting] into the good neighbor agreements
• richard: detailed why LP came to this street, expressed disappointment in not getting more neighborhood kids to apply for jobs
• neil: suggested partnering with OAME (brief discussion re: history of the neighborhood, sale of the plant nursery at Shaver, lack of groceries, etc)

Nicole: Our Next Agenda!
- show NE Passage at next meeting followed by discussion
- LP Greenspace idea
- grocery store/neighborhood co-op
- boise voice call for submissions
- boise voice delivery by kids in the neighborhood?
- neil suggested we get old paper boxes