Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Coffee, Tacos, Meth?
Let me first say, that I am in support of outdoor seating/dining at 525 El Camino! These photos highlight some of my comments / concerns about the Safeway, Rubio's, and Peet's development. We wanted nice retail and we got a strip mall. Letter to Planning below.
Scroll down to see all photos, CLICK on any picture to ENLARGE!
Please note landscaping has taken place of the metal bar in front of the Left Bank outdoor seating area.
New landscaping at outdoor dining area at Cooks Seafood 751 El Camino.
Starbucks landscaping, garbage bin w/ashtray 863 El Camino
Safeway store tables and landscaping.
Rubio's and Peet's. Sidewalks, doorways, bins, are filthy. This landscaping would be removed to make way for sidewalk to make way for seating.
Peet's - the fire and gas lines on the parking lot side will be moved (here?) to make room for seating. Too industrial already...
Note: lack of cart storage/shagging and the pipelines that will have to be moved.
For your dining pleasure - ashtrays are big as garbage cans... attractive!
Customer parking - hummm.
Assistant Manager asking solicitors to leave - they refused for the better part of 25 minutes... I did not feel safe enough to walk home.
Letter to Planning followed by letter to Safeway Working Group
Hi Thomas,
Thank you for your time on the phone today. I greatly appreciate your time explaining the "action" and "appeal" of the notice regarding the seating.
My major concerns are as follows:
1. Neither I, nor my immediate neighbors at Middle received the notification from the city. Blame it on USPS? It would be my preference to have the notification sent to the larger mailing list as was done for the main store.
2. I believe the railing around the Rubio's patio should be re-thought taking into consideration several things.
For example, a reduction in number of tables, keeping and improving the current landscaping, location of trash and ashtray bins, and the awkward bump-out of the railing around the tables. The railing in front of the Left Bank tables has been removed. The landscaping that is currently in front of Rubio's is quite dissimilar to the landscaping in front of the tables in front of the Safeway store.
3. Regarding Peet's, I object to the removal of the landscaping and wonder where all the carts will end up that are now in that passage area. In addition this is a fire lane and with the gas and electric lines on Middle it looks very 'machine room' already.
4. Parking. Last Tuesday afternoon, I counted 11 employees at Rubio's, add to that people saying longer sitting outside at Rubios and Peet's, in addition to the 40 foot container blocking two rows of parking in the middle of the parking lot and the Safeway.com delivery vans taking up 5 permanent spaces on the El Camino facing side of the parking lot. In other words, the parking lot and the Middle Avenue drive way are already a mess. What happens when you add more seating and alcohol to that mix?
5. I am seriously concerned about loitering in the parking lot area. I hope that the outdoor seating will cut down on the nefarious activities taking place in the parking lot, including; gang activity, drug dealing, illegal solicitation, and loitering on private property.
Letter to Working Group
IMHO we 'approved' seating at Peet's and Rubio's before the shops were even built out. Based on the 5 reasons listed below, I urge you all to look at the area, including traffic patterns on Middle, and share your thoughts. As you all know, I support outdoor seating and alcohol being served, but wonder if we could do better (al la Left Bank, Cafe Baronne.) Thomas Rogers at Planning has been very helpful.
Was snapping photos of the landscaping in front of the store vs. landscaping in front of Rubio's and noticed three illegal solicitors asking for 'cash donations.' I was happy to see the Asst. Manager come out - on his own accord - to ask the men to leave. After taking pictures around Rubio's, I noticed the solicitors had not left, so I went back to Safeway and asked for Stan (who refused to come down until the Asst. Mgr. later called him.) I pointed out to the Asst. Mgr. that there was one at the other door, he again asked them to leave. They became angry and irate with us and would not leave the parking lot. These guys watched me and the manager from their car for 20 minutes before leaving. Since I had walked to the store, I felt threatened and unsafe to walk home, the store offered me a ride, but a neighbor came to the rescue. If I had my cell phone I would have called the police, I had asked Mgmt. to do so, and they did NOT. Oh, while I waited out front for the guys to leave, we saw one meth-head with a pit bull, two other potential methheads casing the parking lot.
This clear gang activity, coupled with the recent drug dealing arrest, makes me wonder why Safeway no longer has a security guard on duty. There is 'turf war' potential, and I fear gang activity will increase.
For your information the 40' container in the middle of the parking lot is for a liquor/bread aisle remake - less bread more liquor - and should be complete before Labor Day weekend.
Best to all,
Elizabeth
PS. Again, click on any link for photos, click on any photo to enlarge in a new window.
Scroll down to see all photos, CLICK on any picture to ENLARGE!
Please note landscaping has taken place of the metal bar in front of the Left Bank outdoor seating area.
New landscaping at outdoor dining area at Cooks Seafood 751 El Camino.
Starbucks landscaping, garbage bin w/ashtray 863 El Camino
Safeway store tables and landscaping.
Rubio's and Peet's. Sidewalks, doorways, bins, are filthy. This landscaping would be removed to make way for sidewalk to make way for seating.
Peet's - the fire and gas lines on the parking lot side will be moved (here?) to make room for seating. Too industrial already...
Note: lack of cart storage/shagging and the pipelines that will have to be moved.
For your dining pleasure - ashtrays are big as garbage cans... attractive!
Customer parking - hummm.
Assistant Manager asking solicitors to leave - they refused for the better part of 25 minutes... I did not feel safe enough to walk home.
Letter to Planning followed by letter to Safeway Working Group
Hi Thomas,
Thank you for your time on the phone today. I greatly appreciate your time explaining the "action" and "appeal" of the notice regarding the seating.
My major concerns are as follows:
1. Neither I, nor my immediate neighbors at Middle received the notification from the city. Blame it on USPS? It would be my preference to have the notification sent to the larger mailing list as was done for the main store.
2. I believe the railing around the Rubio's patio should be re-thought taking into consideration several things.
For example, a reduction in number of tables, keeping and improving the current landscaping, location of trash and ashtray bins, and the awkward bump-out of the railing around the tables. The railing in front of the Left Bank tables has been removed. The landscaping that is currently in front of Rubio's is quite dissimilar to the landscaping in front of the tables in front of the Safeway store.
3. Regarding Peet's, I object to the removal of the landscaping and wonder where all the carts will end up that are now in that passage area. In addition this is a fire lane and with the gas and electric lines on Middle it looks very 'machine room' already.
4. Parking. Last Tuesday afternoon, I counted 11 employees at Rubio's, add to that people saying longer sitting outside at Rubios and Peet's, in addition to the 40 foot container blocking two rows of parking in the middle of the parking lot and the Safeway.com delivery vans taking up 5 permanent spaces on the El Camino facing side of the parking lot. In other words, the parking lot and the Middle Avenue drive way are already a mess. What happens when you add more seating and alcohol to that mix?
5. I am seriously concerned about loitering in the parking lot area. I hope that the outdoor seating will cut down on the nefarious activities taking place in the parking lot, including; gang activity, drug dealing, illegal solicitation, and loitering on private property.
Letter to Working Group
IMHO we 'approved' seating at Peet's and Rubio's before the shops were even built out. Based on the 5 reasons listed below, I urge you all to look at the area, including traffic patterns on Middle, and share your thoughts. As you all know, I support outdoor seating and alcohol being served, but wonder if we could do better (al la Left Bank, Cafe Baronne.) Thomas Rogers at Planning has been very helpful.
Was snapping photos of the landscaping in front of the store vs. landscaping in front of Rubio's and noticed three illegal solicitors asking for 'cash donations.' I was happy to see the Asst. Manager come out - on his own accord - to ask the men to leave. After taking pictures around Rubio's, I noticed the solicitors had not left, so I went back to Safeway and asked for Stan (who refused to come down until the Asst. Mgr. later called him.) I pointed out to the Asst. Mgr. that there was one at the other door, he again asked them to leave. They became angry and irate with us and would not leave the parking lot. These guys watched me and the manager from their car for 20 minutes before leaving. Since I had walked to the store, I felt threatened and unsafe to walk home, the store offered me a ride, but a neighbor came to the rescue. If I had my cell phone I would have called the police, I had asked Mgmt. to do so, and they did NOT. Oh, while I waited out front for the guys to leave, we saw one meth-head with a pit bull, two other potential methheads casing the parking lot.
This clear gang activity, coupled with the recent drug dealing arrest, makes me wonder why Safeway no longer has a security guard on duty. There is 'turf war' potential, and I fear gang activity will increase.
For your information the 40' container in the middle of the parking lot is for a liquor/bread aisle remake - less bread more liquor - and should be complete before Labor Day weekend.
Best to all,
Elizabeth
PS. Again, click on any link for photos, click on any photo to enlarge in a new window.
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