With all the recent buzz about Resident Parking Only in Uptown and Bishop Arts, BD is promising to make ResidentParkingOnly.com a standalone sight instead of a page on the BelmontNA website.
Tomorrow. I promise.
After years of dealing with bar owners on Lowest Greenville Avenue, BD has learned one thing - It's all about the money. The average bar owner on the strip would pay $35/sf or more plus insurance plus repairs, his patrons would pay $20 or more to park, and the drinks would be expensive, unless you were a $30,000 millionaire. The bar owners hated it when BD would post their TABC mixed bev sales reports. Despite the fact these were public records, they claimed it was an invasion of their privacy. One went so far as to say the posting of the reports was a declaration of war on the bars. And we can see how well they managed, eh?
Even Gloria's business neighbors are fighting to keep their parking for their customers. This photo was shot Sunday afternoon, but BD understands it has been in use for the last month.
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It's not all happy parking in Bishop Arts. This sign was posted at the entrance to the 611 Bishop strip (Cafe Brazil, Fitness Anytime, etc) |
So while BD was looking at the fight against RPO in the Bishop Arts area, a BA resident asked him to dig into the sales numbers for Gloria's Restaurant, the biggest and so far shiniest bar on the street. During the rezoning process a few years ago, the residents were promised, Gloria's won't move (a mile) up the street. Not gonna happen. Well it did happen, and they opened up in an old firehouse (and BD will admit it's a beautiful building when he was in it last night).
Gloria's employees parking on Neely Street prompted the residents to buy an RPO for their block. Even though Gloria's now owns the medical center on the south side of the street, with plans to move their corporate office into the location and provide more employee parking, the residents were not about to wait on another promise.
BD pulled up the reports not just for this location, but all others under the Gloria's flag. We are posting them without comment, but you can whistle at the numbers in the privacy of your home. Mixed bev sales reports are not confidential, and there's nothing illegal about posting them here.
At the end of the sales reports, BD has included a summary of Gloria's major TABC violations, resulting in nearly $9,000 in penalties paid to the TABC in the past ten years. And some interesting City Council campaign contributions by some of the property owners who oppose Resident Parking Only.
DALLAS — Fish City Grill on Henderson Avenue will close this weekend; its last day is Sunday. Owners Bill and Lovett Bayne announced its imminent closure via an email to customers.
"Our last day will be Sunday," said a Fish City employee. "We're one of the longest running restaurants in this strip, but it never became profitable enough."
[BD Note - FCG's valet parking costs upwards of $5 per car, more when bars in the same strip mall were running full. After a recent crackdown by the City, parking by the valets on empty grassy lots across the street was prohibited.]
UPDATE @ 10pm - CBS11 just posted a story about the Bishop Arts RPO. The property and business owners are having a meeting to figure out how to prevent a war. They have issued their terms of surrender to the residents: Give us your parking spaces so we can make money, and shut up about RPO! Commercial property owner David Spence is worried that if RPO is implemented without any dialog with the commercial interests, then he's going to lose his shirt. David, lean closer to the monitor so I can talk to you only - The parking spaces belong to the residents, capiche?? Details here.
When the first Resident Parking Only zone popped up in the Bishop Arts last week, the residents expected some kvetching by local businesses. And darn if Gloria's Restaurants Jose Fuentes did not get on the news that night and pontificate about how his customers (the ones not parking on his private complimentary [read: tips] lots) are afraid to walk a few blocks extra past the RPO streets. That kind of grousing is expected, and if anything only serves to provide more hot air to heat the restaurants. Even in Uptown, the RPO controversy is down to a low hum as the residents continue to organize for more streets to be protected.
But BD and others were surprised - okay, frigging amazed - to see how the Oak Cliff Chamber and local business and property owners reacted. Did they express any concern for the safety and well-being of their residential neighbors or the reasons they were so determined to have RPO protect their residential property? No. Did they ask for meetings so they could hear about the problems? No.
As if you did not have enough to plan for in March, it's almost time for BD's favorite Jewish holiday - St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, I know the parade may not happen, but that just means more people getting drunker earlier in the day, but what are pagan holidays for? And it's another unholy trinity since SPD falls on a Saturday this year.
But before you and your neighbors start drinking on Friday night, pay attention to the No Parking signs you will see planted in the ground starting Thursday night. The City just posted the official map of where all the signs go, and you can see it after the jump.
