A group of San Juan Bautista hospitality and retail business owners held an impromptu meeting on March 29 at 18th Barrel to vent their frustrations with the City Council’s recent decision to eliminate all parklets located in the historic Third Street district by April 28.
Concern was voiced over the way the decision was made and the potential negative impact that they said would be suffered by Third Street businesses should the tourist-friendly parklets belonging to Dona Esther’s Mexican Restaurant and Inaka Japanese restaurants be removed.
The city contends that the parklets were intended to be temporary and would eventually all be removed during the upcoming planned renovation of the business district. But when the city proposed to remove only parklets of retail businesses during a council meeting on March 21, blowback from business owners citing discrimination led the council to order all the parklets removed.
“The vote happened without representation from the hospitality businesses,” said Fran Fitzharris, owner of Brewery Twenty Five. “Having the parklets for the restaurants and not for anyone else is not discrimination. This is about going into the future, and what is required of us as a community. The restaurants need to keep their parklets for the sake of our economic development.”
Rhonda Io, co-owner of Inaka, said that the Japanese restaurant was still recovering from the impact of the pandemic and that the parklet accounts for approximately a third of their sales.
“We are still trying to survive,” she said. “I think the motion to change the resolution was probably made illegally. The matter should have been tabled and taken to another meeting, which would have included the hospitality businesses.”
Leanna Brothers, Inaka’s front end manager, said she still fields calls daily from people who are concerned about COVID, asking if outdoor dining was available.
“We have lost customers due to the fact that it was not open during the winter,” she said. “There really are a large number of people who still prefer only outside dining as their personal health preference.”
Under the original resolution, Brewery 25’s Fitzharris would have been allowed to keep her parklet, as would Lori Wilson of Bear’s Hideaway and Monica Ramirez of 18th Barrel. All three business owners said they would willingly give up their parklets if Dona Esther’s and Inaka were allowed to keep theirs.
“I have a parklet, but I also have a really nice garden area inside my patio,” Wilson said. “I have a choice; the restaurants do not. It’s a fact, we need outdoor dining. The restaurants are the blood and the lifeline of San Juan Bautista, and the city is doing an injustice to them.”
In order to support the restaurants, Ramirez said she would give hers up just to show she was a team player.
“I love my parklet, and I think they give a great vibe to the town,” she said. “But those two restaurant parklets should stay regardless of what effect it has on mine.”
Debbie Hernandez, the owner of Sweet Pea Antiques, said that she had no objection to the original resolution and did not feel it was a matter of discrimination between types of businesses.
“We always knew they were coming down sooner or later,” she said. “I got a chainsaw, and I am ready to take mine down in a couple of weeks. But they were always intended more for the hospitality businesses, and I want outdoor dining as much as anyone else. A store like mine really doesn’t need it.”
Fitzharris told BenitoLink over 30 business owners filed a complaint in emails to City Hall staff and City Council members, claiming the change in the original resolution to language that outlawed all parklets “[violated] the intention of the Brown Act,” the California law that guarantees transparency in government.
The complaint asked the council to “undertake a transparent analysis of parklet pros and cons that includes a thoughtful discussion with those affected, if not the broader community,” and requests that the council “cure or correct the Brown Act violation by using the recommended analysis to revise the parklet resolution language and properly publish and agendize it before taking action at an open meeting.”
Foucht said that the City Council was aware of the emails but that he did not know if there would be a reconsideration of the matter. Asked if he personally would be open to reconsidering, he said, “It doesn’t really matter what staff thinks. It is all up to the City Council.”
City attorney Bob Rathie told BenitoLink that he was aware of the letter and would undertake a study of the issue and would report his findings to the City Council, saying his ability to respond further at this time was limited by the possibility of future litigation.
Accusations of unfair treatment
The March 29 meeting was, in part, an expression of discontent from the business owners with how City Hall, and assistant city manager Brian Foucht in particular, dealt with them.
Fitzharris said shes has had problems working with Foucht.
“If you go and speak to him about anything,” she said, “it almost feels like any kind of questioning of his judgment or what he’s doing brings you trouble.”
One incident that was mentioned by several merchants, including Fitzharris, as being disrespectful was the way in which Foucht notified Tami Castaneda-Huaracha that her parklet at Dona Esther’s was to be removed, choosing to serve her notice in front of her customers and family while they celebrated the restaurant’s 41st anniversary.
Asked about the business owners’ concern about the timing of the notice, Foucht said all the merchants who had parklets received courtesy notices at the same time to ensure that all of the businesses were informed. Castaneda-Huaracha was not at the impromptu meeting and has not returned BenitoLink’s calls seeking comment.
Aaron Ricketts, co-owner of the popular Hapa Brothers food truck, said he has been met with little or no cooperation by Foucht as he attempted to establish his business in his hometown.
“We’re trying to find every way to work with the town,” he said, “and we’re constantly being threatened and asked to shut down. We are being told that our only course of action would be to spend millions of dollars on a brick-and-mortar location, and that’s just not an option for us.”
He went on to say, “We were told two or three times during our conversations with Foucht that it was not his job to help us find a solution, that it’s our job to find a solution, and it’s his job to see if we can maybe make it work. It’s unfair treatment.”
In response to Ricketts’ comments, Foucht said his remarks had been taken out of context. After initially refusing to explain, he subsequently sent an email to BenitoLink clarifying that he meant “it is not SJB staff’s obligation to find a suitable location for the trailer owner; rather, it is the trailer owner’s responsibility to find a suitable location and obtain the necessary permissions and entitlements.”
In that email, Foucht quoted a San Juan Bautista City Code that requires all uses within the commercial and industrial districts to be conducted “entirely within an enclosed building.” It also prohibits food trucks from parking on any street, municipal parking lot or city property.
According to Ricketts, the food truck has been working out of Vertigo’s parking lot, not on the street or on city property. He went on to say that food trucks have been allowed for years to regularly operate on private property at 18th Barrel, which is about .3 miles from Vertigo.
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