Mailing List Call to Action

[admin]

Here's your chance, friends! Luisa is applying for liquor licenses at "1500" and "Duffy's" and the more protests, the better. Please forward this to anyone you know who isn't on the mailing list.

We need protests by this Thursday, Jan. 15th, just to be utterly safe -- see barleycornsurvivors.org for details. The protest form and instructions are attached, and below are some talking points.

Here are the grounds for opposing the issuance of a license, from the ABC's Form 510. In general, prioritize these concerns based on your own experience and order of importance. File a protest for each application, "1500" and "Duffy's."

Inform the ABC if you have not received a mailing from "Torre Del Grego" and/or Louisa Hanson for each application; I haven't, and I live right on Larkin.

1. "Issuance of the license would result or add to an undue concentration of licenses." The two licenses that were in operation previously have remained in the immediate vicinity -- the Front Room moved 1/2 block away, and the Barleycorn license went to McTeague's at Polk and Sutter. That makes these two licenses additive and not merely replacements. And the Polk Commercial District has an over-abundance of licenses.

2. The applicant, Luisa Hanson, is not a "local business person in good standing." To the contrary, Luisa Hanson has a long history of lawsuits, complaints, disputes and controversy surrounding her business ventures. When given several opportunities to discuss her plans for the mixed use commercial and residential building she purchased, she ignored them. When contacted by community, business and political leaders, she ignored their phone calls. Ms. Hanson closed two 40-year-old businesses despite many voices expressing concern over the negative impact on the local economy and its community.

Another of Ms. Hanson's businesses, Luisa's Restaurant on Union Street, has been shut down for health code violations and is currently involved in a disability access lawsuit. The status of the corporation through which she is applying for the licenses, Torre Del Grego, is suspended.

3. "What type of patrons will the business attract?" Since there is a de facto boycott of Ms. Hanson's businesses -- not only in Lower Nob Hill, thanks to the closure of the John Barleycorn Pub, but, indeed, all around the city where Ms. Hanson has ventured -- we must assume that the customers she will attract, if any, will come from outside the neighborhood and thus more likely to cause noise, pollution and crime. Her customers will not have a stake in maintaining or protecting the neighborhood. If somehow she does attract customers in this fashion -- which is a dubious proposition since Lower Nob Hill is not a destination neighborhood, like North Beach, for example -- it will also increase traffic at an already dangerous corner. Larkin Street becomes a 2-way street right at the intersection of California Street at the corner of the applicant's property.

4. "Will there be ample, trained staff?" We doubt it, since no one seems to work for Ms. Hanson for very long.

5. "Will the applicant have and enforce written house/store policies?" We doubt this too. The combination of short-term staff, a customer base that comes from outside of the neighborhood, and an owner who has already shown the back of her hand to the community, is certain to be worse than having two vacancies at this location. And an owner who refused the opportunity to at least talk to nearly 4,000 neighbors and customers -- the number of signatures gathered on an open letter to Ms. Hanson to keep the Barleycorn open -- is not likely to respond their concerns in the future by limiting hours, noise, or pollution.

In conclusion, Ms. Hanson has not displayed the character, the business acumen, the stability, or involvement in community affairs that should be associated with the right to sell alcohol. She has already damaged the economic and civil life of the neighborhood of Lower Nob Hill, and if she is granted a license at these locations, she will damage it even further.