Comment by Kelley Kraft Casey on May 29, 2012 at 9:40pm

I don't quite get it.  Why does the city have an ordinance that excludes one type of chain and not another?  If Starbucks takes away business, then the same applies to Walgreens.  I shop at Boneys.  I don't get coffee there, and I hardly think that coffee is Boney's biggest business.  Tartine also has its regulars.   I'd be curious to know what kind of "persuasive arguments" that the local business owners made, and wonder also if there were local business owners who argued against Walgreens.  Let the customers decide where they want to go. 

Comment by Dana S. Chisholm on May 29, 2012 at 9:49pm

Brian - agreed.  They are different.  And the agenda item I read, the two letters of opposition were opposed to a "chain" - the mom and pop argument.  But, as the Mayor pointed out, there are not to be more than ten "chains", and there are currently only 6 - Starbucks would have been #7.... that's pretty mom & pop if you ask me!  If the issue comes up again, please let me know and me and my neighbors will attend the meeting.  Here is the Agenda and docs, I couldn't find the recording of the meeting, yet.

http://www.coronado.ca.us/egov/docs/1337382975_478271.pdf

Comment by Brian Smith on May 29, 2012 at 9:53pm

The 1 hr 18 min video of only addressing Starbucks is on the Coronado Planning commission site.

Comment by Brian Smith on May 29, 2012 at 9:55pm

Dana...... Coronado.12milesout.com

Comment by Dana S. Chisholm on May 29, 2012 at 9:59pm

http://coronado.12milesout.com/PublicMeetings/MeetingVideo?ID=03f54...

Thanks :-)

Comment by Dana S. Chisholm on May 29, 2012 at 11:12pm

OK - I listened to the whooooole thing :-)  And I have to say, Debbie Boney has a good point - its not competition for her, but rather that the Starbucks customers would use her parking. And to that I have to say, she has a valid point.  They WILL use her parking.  Although I think most of the traffic, like the other Starbucks, will come from pedestrians and bikes, cars will still abuse her parking lot. There does need to be a solution for that.  Other than that, the arguments were all about keeping it a small "Village" - and that is wonderful, and I support that. The people that have fought and made Coronado what it is today deserve a standing ovation - for decades to come!! This town is GORGEOUS and it is because of the hard work and long hours they invested.  That being said, a Starbucks in this vacant space is the lesser of the evils.  They don't want a computer business or any kind of "trade shop" in that space. They don't want anything that competes with Tartines (although there is a whole string of restaurants right there that compete with each other and do just fine), it seems like the only thing they DO want is a retail shop of some sort, and that area just doesn't have the business to support that.  I'm sorry, I wish it did.  They also said Marriott serves Starbucks - PLEASE! That is not the same.  :-)  And some valid points were made about small business owners investing in our town.  but, that is the case in EVERY town. The small businesses are more apt to donate to community events. that doesn't mean we kick out the other corporations. It just means we support our local businesses and friends as much as we can and appreciate what they do even more.  As one speaker pointed out, two of the three restaurants right here aren't even local owned - they are leased and run by people that don't even live here.  So, we should certainly appreciate our local businesses - but, that is not an argument to keep out others. 

Another point that was made by accident was that Boney's does exist with Albertson's a block away.  That is because Boney's has a different little niche - I shop at both. the same is true of Tartine's and Starbucks, what Brian said earlier, they are not the same. Like Boney's and Albertson's, they can co-exist.

And I understand the concern for keeping Coronado, Coronado. Its the same concern that keeps Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara.  And they fought HARD to keep Nordstrom out.  But, now that its there, everyone loves it.  Coronado will see the same thing.  Starbucks at this end of town is the lesser of the evils that COULD go in that space. And we need to keep revitalizing this end to cut the crime and other ills.  If they can figure out a way to pay Boney's for use, or fix that burden it is going to put on her in some way...I think it should be approved.  They did give them the required 10 days to appeal - and I hope they do...with some solutions for Debbie Boney.  I want my Carmel Latte :-)

Staff Comment by Kellee Hearther on May 30, 2012 at 11:33am

I couldn't say it any better, Dana.  Thanks for taking the time to listen to the planning commission meeting and share your opinion and what was discussed in this forum.  The Boney's parking lot being used is a problem, but is there evidence that people aren't using it now to peruse that block of town?  I know that people use the Panera parking lot when they are not going to Panera....what to do about that?  Another business on the bay side of town doesn't seem like a bad idea.

 

Comment by Doug Ewen on May 31, 2012 at 3:57pm

I can see this will open a "can of worms". No matter the decision, someone will not like it.

Comment by Tonia Accetta on June 1, 2012 at 4:08pm

Oh Wow! So disappointing! my husband loves his Starbucks, but we hate the parking on the 900 block of Orange  so we were looking forward to an additional location. What a shame!!!!

Comment by Meyer on June 4, 2012 at 8:33am

Am I missing something? There are two points here

First, Boney's argument on parking would apply to any successful business nearby. Any reasonably successful business would create some amount of parking demand and traffic. So I fail to see why Starbucks is bad, whereas some other potentially successful business would not be. Using Boney's argument, I could say that no successful business should EVER be set up on the Bay side of Orange because of potential parking issues, or, better yet, no further businesses should be allowed near Boney's, period. Furthermore, I don't see Boney's demanding that Brew Co. end kid's night or any other major promotion, which is also a major parking problem as well.

Second, Starbucks is a draw to many people. You know all those mom & pop stores people love? they don't survive without foot traffic. If you want foot traffic (i.e., buyers and eyeballs) in those nice galleries, real-estate windows, and trinket shops near orange on the bayside, you need to give people a reason to wander by during the day time. Starbucks is that draw. If you go by Starbucks on the beach side, you know it is filled to capacity with locals and tourists, almost constantly. That foot traffic is priceless to the shops that would otherwise be invisible. Therefore, contrary to the mom & pop argument being made, I think there is the major consideration that starbucks store on bayside of orange would not be a bad thing to support those businesses.

Comment (keep it clean & on topic)

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