Disclaimer: In case anyone should ask, I have no investment or otherwise stand to gain from this enterprise. I'm just infuriated that the city of Belleville is keeping a small business from providing a walkable destination in an historic neighborhood.
At the corner of Mascoutah and Garfield in the historic district of Belleville, there was once a bar called the Nowhere Saloon. It was a real hole of a biker bar that attracted all kinds of real nice characters in the neighborhood.
My wife and I used to live across the street from this bar. Our place was a really cool little old-timey grocery store that'd been converted into a duplex. We moved out of there, though, because we were sick of the Nowhere's clientele causing trouble in the neighborhood. Drunk people would be knocking on the door, the planters out front would be full of beer bottles, etc. While the city of Belleville targeted perfectly OK bars like 3-1-3 to be shut down, they really let this place be, up until there was an armed robbery there and the place finally closed. I believe that was probably mid to late 2006.
It's sit vacant, and a couple has purchased it to turn it into a cafe, and live in the upstairs apartment. Personally I think this is great -- who wouldn't want this? They're planning to take a deteriorating building in an historic neighborhood, fix it up, and open a small business. It's a place local folks could take their kids on a walk, maybe a neighborhood meeting place, etc. The owners have said they're going to sell things like hot dogs and ice cream, not run a biker bar. And the owners have an incentive to not let their patrons ruin the neighborhood -- they're moving into the neighborhood themselves and making an investment.
The wrinkle in this is that the neighborhood is zoned residential. Because there was not a commercial enterprise operating in that building for more than a year, the property lost its commercial zoning status and it's now zoned residential. This is pretty funny considering if you should look at the building (400 Mascoutah Ave, on Google Street View, if you'd like), it was clearly built to be a commercial property.
A couple months ago this went before the zoning board. The zoning board recommended that the property be re-zoned commercial. That recommendation went to the city council, where people spoke out against it and the request was denied almost unanimously. From what the News-Democrat described, neighborhood residents were complaining about things the Nowhere's patrons did, and assumed that a neighborhood cafe would be just like a biker bar. The News-Democrat quoted one resident as saying the Nowhere's patrons would have sex in her yard -- would people really do that after having an ice cream and hot dog?
The prospective cafe owners brought this before the zoning board again yesterday, and the zoning board denied it. In the meantime a building sits as an eyesore in an otherwise cute neighborhood.
I suppose I'm really just trying to bring this to light. It really infuriates me that the city of Belleville seems to be against any sort of development that isn't big-box or a junk shop on Main Street. I suppose I'm happy that there's now a Target in Belleville, even if it's getting TIF funding, but it's bugging the heck out of me that the city council is trying to kill a neighborhood corner cafe. If you ask me, anyone who tries opening a small business in a down economy should be supported, not shunned.
At the corner of Mascoutah and Garfield in the historic district of Belleville, there was once a bar called the Nowhere Saloon. It was a real hole of a biker bar that attracted all kinds of real nice characters in the neighborhood.
My wife and I used to live across the street from this bar. Our place was a really cool little old-timey grocery store that'd been converted into a duplex. We moved out of there, though, because we were sick of the Nowhere's clientele causing trouble in the neighborhood. Drunk people would be knocking on the door, the planters out front would be full of beer bottles, etc. While the city of Belleville targeted perfectly OK bars like 3-1-3 to be shut down, they really let this place be, up until there was an armed robbery there and the place finally closed. I believe that was probably mid to late 2006.
It's sit vacant, and a couple has purchased it to turn it into a cafe, and live in the upstairs apartment. Personally I think this is great -- who wouldn't want this? They're planning to take a deteriorating building in an historic neighborhood, fix it up, and open a small business. It's a place local folks could take their kids on a walk, maybe a neighborhood meeting place, etc. The owners have said they're going to sell things like hot dogs and ice cream, not run a biker bar. And the owners have an incentive to not let their patrons ruin the neighborhood -- they're moving into the neighborhood themselves and making an investment.
The wrinkle in this is that the neighborhood is zoned residential. Because there was not a commercial enterprise operating in that building for more than a year, the property lost its commercial zoning status and it's now zoned residential. This is pretty funny considering if you should look at the building (400 Mascoutah Ave, on Google Street View, if you'd like), it was clearly built to be a commercial property.
A couple months ago this went before the zoning board. The zoning board recommended that the property be re-zoned commercial. That recommendation went to the city council, where people spoke out against it and the request was denied almost unanimously. From what the News-Democrat described, neighborhood residents were complaining about things the Nowhere's patrons did, and assumed that a neighborhood cafe would be just like a biker bar. The News-Democrat quoted one resident as saying the Nowhere's patrons would have sex in her yard -- would people really do that after having an ice cream and hot dog?
The prospective cafe owners brought this before the zoning board again yesterday, and the zoning board denied it. In the meantime a building sits as an eyesore in an otherwise cute neighborhood.
I suppose I'm really just trying to bring this to light. It really infuriates me that the city of Belleville seems to be against any sort of development that isn't big-box or a junk shop on Main Street. I suppose I'm happy that there's now a Target in Belleville, even if it's getting TIF funding, but it's bugging the heck out of me that the city council is trying to kill a neighborhood corner cafe. If you ask me, anyone who tries opening a small business in a down economy should be supported, not shunned.
