Belltown NIMBYs Have a Problem With This Upstart "5 Point" Place

Photo courtesy the 5 Point Cafe

UPDATE: Re-posting this article due to continued interest. The city's hearing on the issue of permitting the 5 Point Cafe to have outdoor seating is coming up, and David Meinert, the owner, is asking: "The Mayor needs to hear as many voices of support as possible. Email the Mayor at mike.mcginn@seattle.gov or www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/contact.htm and send him a message." See below for more info, including the comments.

Oh Seattle, you crack me up sometimes. As much as I want to believe that you're an awesome place that has a great future, sometimes I just have to give up hope. To wit--this morning, I came across this note on Facebook from Dave Meinert, a man who's done more to make Seattle a cool place to live and go out in than almost anyone else. People who know Meinert know him as a serious advocate for Seattle's nightlife and music (Capitol Hill Block Party, anyone?), a responsible businessman, and an all around decent guy.

So what's his problem? Well, as part of his ongoing efforts to bring the legendary 5 Point Cafe into the 21st century without entirely ditching its storied past, last year he applied with the city to have a small area of outdoor seating in Tilikum Park, which we all know as one of the most charming outdoor areas in Seattle already. The mayor--like his predecessor--wants more outdoor seating; the permits were approved by the relevant departments, and everything seemed to be going okay until...

People appealed! Why? Well, the appellants are, respectively, the nearby Tilikum Place Cafe and some nearby condo-dwellers. The Tilikum Place Cafe's complaint is a mystery to me--you can see Meinert's explanation below, but it's surely one-sided. Still, I can't help but think he's completely right that increased foot-traffic down there will be a benefit. The 5 Point isn't the same old shady joint it used to be (which makes me a little sad, actually), and it's going to continue becoming more and more of a cool destination. So if anyone can help me out with the substance of Tilikum Place Cafe's issue, I'd love to hear from them.

As for the condo owners, I can only laugh at people like this. My patience and willingness to try to see both sides of this sort of issue have been ruined by having to repeat this same story so many times over the course of like eight years I wrote about Seattle development squabbles. All I can say is, get over yourselves. People who want to have urban living have no right to complain about urban living. In the end, if you don't like the community you're in or the people frequenting the area near your home, then you might just be morons who paid too much for a shitty condo in a place you apparently don't want to be. And if your idea of trying to improve the neighborhood you find yourself stuck in is NIMBY-ish meddling that tries to impose your preferences on an area outside both your apartment and your building, rather than positive engagement and actual community building, well, you can go do something sexual to yourself that's physically impossible, which may be a strong sentiment, but it's appropriate because you are ruining--not improving--the community you've erroneously chosen to live in.

Here's the 5 Point's letter and plea for support; just do it Seattle, before you turn into a completely insufferable place:

About a year ago, we at The 5 Point started a process to get outdoor seating in front of the 5 Point. At the suggestion of the Mayor, this seating extends out into Tilikum Place park (which is actually not a park but a pedestrian right of way controlled by the Seattle Department of Transportation). The Parks department and SDOT agreed this would be a great thing, and Mayor McGinn also said he'd like to see Seattle's core urban parks get more outdoor seating in order to activate the parks and make the safer - more people using the park, the safer it is.

In December we were granted our permit. The outdoor seating area extends 20 feet out from the front of the 5 point and is about 16 feet wide. Not a large area, but good sized for a sidewalk cafe. We thought we were ready to move forward. This area would bring more people to the park, and sitting in it you can see the water, the Space Needle, the Monorail, and the statue of Chief Seattle. Very cool.

It then came to our attention that the permit was being appealed. Surprisingly, one of the two appeals is coming from a neighboring business, the Tilikum Place Cafe. We feel our outdoor seating will benefit them as we draw more people to the area, and like in Europe, they could also set up a food cart in the park and make money as well. We offered to work with them to do so, and to promote this special little corner of Belltown as a place for people to come eat and drink. Their complaint though, is that the 5 Point's customers are a negative impact on the community, will scare away their customers if allowed to be outside, and so we shouldn't be allowed to have outdoor seating.

The other complaint came from a few condo owners across the street from the 5 Point. They also dislike the 5 Point, criticize if for being a bar (??) and are worried about noise. So we agreed to close the outdoor seating at 10pm. That is not enough for them as they would like to see us not have outdoor seating at all.

Now the City wants us to meet with this tiny minority of the neighborhood to discuss shrinking our outdoor seating, or possibly agreeing to do away with it. We have agreed to meet with neighbors, but feel this small group of people do not represent the whole neighborhood, and have asked to open that meeting up to other neighbors who support the outdoor seating. We're waiting to hear back from the City about next steps.

In the meantime, we need your letters of support. Basically they need to say that you live in, work in or regularly visit the neighborhood, that you support the permit for the outdoor seating for the 5 Point the way it is written, that the people opposing it do not represent a majority of the neighborhood or you. Email that letter to us at david@thefivepointcafe.com and we'll forward to all the various people at the City. If you include your address it helps even more.

Thanks for your support, and when we get the permit we'll have a little party you'll be invited to!

David, Mandy and Oly