Instead of everyone having a fit over whether posters like or dislike a particular restaurant/shop/apartment complex in East Falls they should be outraged at a Zoning Committee that tries to chase businesses out of the area.

The Set Table has a coffee truck ready to go that would provide hot drinks etc to riders at the train station. They have all the required permits, but the EFCC harassed the owner about it so much she decided it wasn't worth the effort. Nice work.

No kidding? That sux. If the younger, professional folks in EF knew what was going on, they would probably show up to the meetings and get involved.

I swear, I rarely see anyone under 50 at the meetings...and turnout is always low.

Part of the problem is that the "younger, professional folks" are working 50 and 60 hours a week, travelling, and raising young kids so it's more difficult for them to devote the time necessary to be a regular contributer to the EFCC and it's sub-committees. They can muster up the time for a meeting every 6 months when it's a hot-button issue like a playground in McMichael or the Rivage Site, but it's asking a lot of them to be weekly contributers.

The end result is you have "armchair" politicians all over the council who have a lot of free time on their hands and like to kick back in their chair and wax all philosophical asking deep, profound questions like, "What level, if any, will we allow?".

Many of these people don't know squat about real estate, development, leasing, or the challenges in starting one's own business but they LOVE to squeeze these entrepreneurs in the name of "protecting the neighborhood."

It's really a disgrace. I look at some of the people on that council and I know them and it's a disgrace.

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"Life's tough, and it's a lot tougher if you're stupid." My Dad

I went to the meeting last night - my first one in ages. I agree with Malloy's analysis that it is a lot of older people getting hung up on details.

One thing that struck me was that someone said "We can't bend the rules for someone because we like her and the menu looks good". I thought the whole point of having a community council was that you could do that, and not be subject to arbitrary rules administered by a bureaucrat from city hall.

By the way, has anyone seen her menu? I was trying to picture what "high-end take-out fish" actually means. That stretch of Ridge does not exactly have Georges Perrier and Steven Starr falling over each other to get in there, so I think they should go for it.

It's a disgrace.

I just tried to e-mail Art McDowell (who according to the EFCC website is the Chair of the zoning committee) at the address posted on the site:

zoning@eastfallscommunity.org

But it kicked back to me saying that the mailbox is "full". Good to see they're on top of things over there.

There's no phone number listed so I tried calling EFCC number but nobody in yet.

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"Life's tough, and it's a lot tougher if you're stupid." My Dad

I agree with you completely. We have a small child and these meetings always occur during dinner, which our schedules don't allow us to be flexible about.

Complaining about trash is mindlessly short-sighted. If you look at the trash that accumulates in Inn Yard, about 90% of it is junk food wrappers that probably originated at Major Lee's. I don't think the losers that litter will be patronizing a "high-end" fish take-out place. We desperately need businesses like that on Ridge to bring more respectable citizens to the area - who know how to use a trash can!

The Fish Spot woman is great. To think, she even agreed to cleaning up the dirtiest part of Inn Yard Park, (the 'chess' table side) 2x a week!

I couldn't imagine having to do something like that just to get approval from the neighborhood. Esp on a ghetto strip like Ridge.

I would rather 'donate' 150 bucks than dedicate that much time every week. To think, that $150 request made 3 news papers....
http://www.citypaper.net/articles/20...-150-shakedown

Why should she be responsible?

Usually its an empty store front that gathers more litter as no one is there to maintain it.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by SFC28 Isn't it ironic that Mark B. Cohen, the guy who soaked the taxpayers for $22K on book store spending sprees, is a champion of libraries?

This message is hidden because jrouleau426 is on your ignore list.

I don't get it. It's a self created catch-22. People want a solution to the desire to expand storefronts on Ridge Ave. Then when someone comes along with a viable business, they are told they cannot because that will increase the trash problem on Ridge Ave??! I would love to see a seafood place in the area. There really isn't any in Myk, Rox, EF or Bala or Mt Airy. NOTHING!! So it could do really well. Also, if more takeout = more trash, Manayunk & Roxborough would be landfills.

I quickly scanned her original proposal. ~ $14 is where the individual dishes top out.