Peets at the Palmtag

Haven't posted for over a month - - nothing really perks my interest -- until now! This is very encouraging news....

From the Daily Review:
Peets Coffee has been announced as a future tenant for the Palmtag Building, at the corner of B Street and Mission. This was announced at the City Council's Downtown Committee at their 3/27 meeting. I would imagine that Peets would renovate the space recently vacated by the Silver Spoon Hofbrau this past December. Schedule? Completion of the Palmtag restoration by this fall, with Peets moving in early 2007.

Quoting from the Daily Review:

Downtown's historic Palmtag Building will be restored and will become home to a Peet's Coffee & Tea shop, a retail developer announced Monday.

Vic de Melo, vice president of Oakland-based Browman Development Company, said his company is preparing to do major remodeling work on the ailing but once-elegant building at the corner of B Street and Mission Boulevard.

"We feel in some ways we're bringing it back to what it was," de Melo said.

The development firm is counting on about $500,000 in city redevelopment subsidies to help with the costly renovation.

He said that along with the coffee shop, the vacant structure can fit two smaller stores and some office space on the second floor.

City leaders and downtown merchants greeted the proposal with enthusiasm Monday night after de Melo presented the plans to the Hayward City Council's Downtown Committee.

"We really think (Peet's) will bring more foot traffic down B Street," de Melo said. "They'vesigned a 10-year agreement with us, which is a pretty big commitment for them."

He said he is hoping to begin construction on the exterior in June and have it completed by Thanksgiving. Peet's could then do its own interior work and open by spring 2007.

The Palmtag Building's delicate rooftop cornices collapsed onto B Street during the 1906 earthquake, but the bulk of the building survived.

.....

In the decades it took for Hayward to expand into vast suburbs, and for much of commerce to move out of downtown, the Palmtag Building gradually lost a lot of its charm.

"I know I've had a lot of people asking about when would work begin on the Palmtag Building," said Richard Patenaude, the city's principal planner. "It has suffered over the years from deferred maintenance."

The bay windows and elaborate facade seen in early photographs of the building no longer exist. The oddly colored outside wall paints are peeling and faded.

The corner building's last major tenant, the Silver Spoon Hofbrau restaurant, vacated the building late last year.

If the Browman Development Company project succeeds, it will likely be a boost for the B Street area, where 14 of 67 storefronts are vacant, according to a city survey. Commerce continues to struggle despite millions of dollars spent on streetscaping, building facelifts and seismic improvements.

Another developer is putting a brand-new 12-screen cinema and retail complex further up on B Street, but the center will not be finished until well into 2007.

De Melo said that Browman Development Company went through a "pretty long odyssey" determining how it could renovate the Palmtag Building and bring in retail that would thrive there.

The firm built the neighboring retail pads on Mission Boulevard that include food chains Starbucks, Panda Express, Subway and Coldstone. It is also developing a big-box style Target-anchored shopping center on the far west end of A Street.

"Our real experience is building shopping centers from the ground up," he said. The proposed Palmtag renovation, he said, has been a "humbling experience."

The renovation requires significant seismic and code upgrades.

"We don't have a firm vision for the upstairs. Most likely it's going to be some kind of office space," de Melo said. "It's really cost-prohibitive to do anything extravagant."

The firm also owns a neighboring old building, which is home to the Bottle & Book House, a flower shop and the B Street Bar & Grill. Other than a possible paint job, there are no plans to renovate that building.

De Melo said the company has spent nine months securing a lease with Peet's, the Berkeley-founded chain that now operates several hundred stores nationwide.

State Senate Race - Polls?

Both the East Bay Express (2/15) and the Daily Review (2/20) have articles on the recent "poll" conducted by candidate John Dutra for the State Senate race. Dutra's polls show, conveniently, that Dutra is ahead in the race by 40 percent, compared to 29 percent for Ellen Corbett, 15 percent for Johan Klehs, and 17 percent undecided.

I frankly don't know if this poll was or was not conducted in a scientific manner.
I was, in fact, contacted by one (or another?) of Dutra's pollsters this past weekend, and the pollster was very, very amateurish. The intent of the "poll" was unclear, and the "poll" ended with a "vote for John Dutra for California State Senate" goodbye tagline. This is similar to what Johan Klehs reported in the Daily Review.

A "professional" pollster would ALWAYS need to ROTATE the list of the candidates to remove the "first heard name is the preferred candidate" BIAS. Apparently, the Dutra poll asked if your favored candidate was: a) Dutra, b) [Ellen] Corbett, c) [Johan] Klehs, or d) Undecided. PROPER polling technique would be to RANDOMIZE the listing of names in the response....I don't know for certain, but I sincerely doubt that the names were randomized. (To prove it, I or others would need to review the interviewer training materials, and the customized scripts for every respondent....)

I think there's something going on: a preliminary poll conducted for the Dutra campaign, and some sort of amateur poll meant to pump up name recognition.

By the way, my response to the Dutra poll was "undecided."

Dutra for Senate website: http://www.johndutra.com/
Corbett for Senate website: http://www.corbettforsenate.com/
Klehs for Senate (no website?)

More information on the State Senate District #10 race: http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/elections/SD10

Be careful where you eat!

Today's Daily Review has an article about, let's say "food preparation issues" at a downtown area restaurant, the China AA Buffet at 24100 Mission. For example, rinsing chow mein noodles in a mop sink; cold food not cold enough; hot food not hot enough; grease, garbage & food debris outside back; "vermin harborage". OK, scratch this restaurant off of my list.

The Alameda County Department of Environmental Health has a very useful "Restaurant Inspection" website that allows users to zoom in on a neighborhood map of interest, then select the restaurants within the neighborhood, then open a summary report. The site is here:
http://ehgis.acgov.org/

It's a very clever use of GIS (geographic information systems) for the public interest, though you really should use Internet Explorer because of some limitations in the web design.

Violations on the Restaurant Inspection web site are color-coded:

• green (no violations found);
• blue (violations related to the maintenance and cleanliness of the establishment); and
• red (Critical Violations. "These are violations with the highest risk of causing food borne disease. One red critical violation equals an unsatisfactory inspection. Environmental Health Specialists work with operators to make sure that red critical violations are corrected before they leave the establishment.")

Though this is a useful public service, this Alameda County web site can be discouraging - - checking out your favorite restaurants and noticing the types of violations. It could be that the restaurant was having a bad day; or it could mean that infractions were found, then corrected, so now it's okay to eat at. Multiple red violations on multiple inspection dates is a red flag, and probably a clue that there are problems. My recommendation: your own personal experience with the restaurant is your best guide. Food poisoning and evidence of critters is good enough for me to scratch a restaurant off my list.

12 Myths About Downtown: Myth #2: Zone for Vertical Mixed Use

This is the second in a series discussing the Cal Planner's article by urban designer Mark Brodeur. The full article is available from the CalAPA web site.

Myth #2: Zone for Vertical Mixed Use

This is "Silver Bullet, Part Two" of Brodeur's arguments. Think of "vertical mixed use" as the perhaps anachronistic retail on the ground floor and housing units on the upper floors.

Brodeur writes:

"A downtown without mixed used is not predetermined to die. There are several successful downtowns without mixed use zoning in place. This occurs primarily where there is single-story reail on Main Street, and housing is in close proximity. Typically, if residential uses are allowed close to Main Street, then introducing vertical muxed use for the sake of nostalgia can be a controversial forced effort. What's critical is to have a local residential populace within walking distance, say, within four or five blocks [emphasis added]."

I'm aware of only one example of vertical mixed use in downtown Hayward -- the Green Shutter Hotel, with businesses (The Bistro, the Book Shop) on the first floor and the SRO hotel on the second.

A good characteristic of downtown Hayward is the "horizontal mixed use" with the nearby residential neighborhoods clustered around Hayward BART, and within the east four to five block walk lauded by Brodeur.

12 Myths About Downtown: Myth #1: What We Need is a Film Festival

This month's edition of the California Chapter, American Planning Association's newsletter, Cal Planner, has a thoughtful piece by Mark Brodeur, a private consultant based in San Juan Capistrano, California. I will quote & paraphrase some of Brodeur's observations, with my thoughts regarding downtown Hayward. Perhaps this is a twelve-part series?

Myth #1: What We Need is a Film Festival

Brodeur also terms this the Silver Bullet approach to downtown revitalization, hanging hopes on the big anchor tenant/attraction: the department store, a baseball team, a library, or a major event like a film festival. He warns that communities have a problem when they believe that after they attract the Silver Bullet, that their work is done. "The lesson to be learned is that a Silver Bullet only works when it's in conjunction with economic, design and other promotional elements to support revitalization."

The obvious Silver Bullet (candidate) in downtown Hayward is the Cinema Place multiplex / retail complex, scheduled for completion by Fall 2007. The big question we should ask is: what are the complementary activities that the City, the community and the business owners need to work at in order to make downtown Hayward thrive?

The Bistro Double IPA Festival

Well, my mistake was walking over to The Bistro at about 3:00 PM this past Saturday afternoon. The corner was packed, and I don't do crowds, so I skipped the apparently extremely successful festivities. (I did have a Hoptown DUIPA at my favorite brewpub, Pacific Coast Brewpub in Old Oakland, on Friday, so I know what I missed.) Maybe I'll stop in after dinner tonight and see what's still on tap.

Shark Shack

The CSUEB Pioneer reported in this past Thursday's edition the closing of The Shark Shack on B Street. Apparently the outgoing owner is citing the increased rents from the landlord in anticipation of Cinema Place. (I walked by the other day and saw the large posted "ownership change" notice, so knew that something was afoot....)

The Shark Shack owner was quoted as saying: "We are no longer involved; (the Shark Shack) is making the transition back to the old restaurant with the previous owner." (Is this the "Morelia on B Street" restaurant? This was before my time.)

This is too bad. The Shark Shack was a nice addition to the B Street neighborhood. I don't understand landlord/tenant relationships, especially in terms of retail tenants, but it looks like the B Street Marketplace owner is not that sharp, given the number of vacancies in this complex. UPS moved around the corner to the restored Victorian on Mission (adjacent to a new men's and women's lingerie store!); H&R Block is a new tenant; and the AIM mailing / mailbox service is apparently moving into the storefront vacated by UPS. Meanwhile, the space for the Irth Cafe is still vacant.

We'll see. It looks like some of the commercial landlords in downtown are raising rents a bit too soon.

DIPA festival at the Bistro - Saturday February 11th

The Bistro, at the corner of B and Main, is holding their 6th annual Double IPA (India Pale Ale) Festival, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, on Saturday, February 11th. A time for hopheads to get together.

Double IPA is "double-hopped" ale that has very strong hops flavors, and very high alcohol content, say, 8.00% to 9.50% ABV (alcohol by volume). More commentary on DIPAs are available at this SFBeer.org page.

Some of the inventive names brewers name their doubles include: Maximus, Ruination, Devil Dancer, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Dreadnaught, and so on.

See the wikipedia entries for India Pale Ale and Double IPA:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_pale_ale
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_India_Pale_Ale
  

Hop to see you there ;-)

Happy 40th Anniversary to Los Compadres

The Los Compadres restaurant, on 944 C Street between Mission & Main, celebrates their 40th anniversary in 2006. I had dinner there this past Tuesday, and the "joint was jumpin'" with live music, very good food (as usual), and fast and friendly service.

Be sure to check them out this anniversary month:

http://www.loscompadres4mex.com/main.html

Hayward Farmers Market

One of the Key Assets of downtown Hayward is our weekly Farmers Market. The one-block stretch of Main Street between A and B is blocked off every Saturday morning, come rain or shine. The official posted hours are 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, but most of the vendors are set up and basically ready for business by about 8:00 AM, sometimes earlier.

This morning (1/28/2006) is actually the first Saturday in 2006 that I've been able to get to the market. Right now it's cold (about 50F), drizzly, and threatening to open up. Typical of a cold day in the Bay Area, where one is thinking of more inside activities than outside ones. Also, my impression of farmers markets in January is that of root vegetables: all the turnips, rutabagas and potatoes that really aren't that exciting.

Today's farmer market was a very pleasant surprise. In addition to the "vegetable guy" on the corner of B and Main, where I got celery, green & red bell peppers & yellow onions ($3.00 for all that!), there's the "smoked meats guy" (Cedar Creek Smoked Salmon out of Pt. Richmond) [http://cedarcreeksalmon.com/] where I picked up a half pint of salmon-horseradish pate for $5.00; the "cheese lady" (Spring Hills Dairy from Petaluma) [http://www.springhillcheese.com/] where I picked up a half pint of garlic quark for $5.00; and the "fish guy" where I picked up a fresh King Salmon steak, and a half pint of oysters.

There's also a new addition: a filipino food stand with pancit, lumpia and other yum yums. I probably will need to drop by in a few hours for lunch.

The Hayward Farmers Market is where I want to be every Saturday morning.

Police Close Downtown Hayward Brothel

I just returned from a week in sunny but cold Washington, DC, and am still trying to catch up with my work and personal life. So, nothing in the past couple of days has happened in Hayward, until I go back a week to the 1/21/06 Daily Review:

(I guess this means they're not going for a conditional use permit from the City Planning Commission ;-)

This is all is actually quite funny, and is a candidate for the Strangest News of the Year for Downtown Hayward Award.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_3424489

"HAYWARD — A downtown massage parlor raided in a Thursday prostitution sting was supposed to go before the city's Planning Commission next week but never completed the required police checks.

Owners of the Lotus Flower Health Center did not have permission to run a massage business at the Second Street Plaza, but were attempting to obtain a permit, city officials said Friday....

Police officers spent recent weeks conducting an undercover investigation of the Lotus Flower, also known as the Lotus Blossom, which was on the second floor of downtown's Second Street Plaza building at the corner of B and Second streets.

Detectives said the business was operating as a brothel but masquerading as an acupressure and acupuncture center that provided customers with massages.

"There was just never any women who went to get massages," said Laura Swan, who owns a communications business across the hall from the parlor. "There was a steady stream of men that came up all day."

Google Earth Macintosh

The best news this past week was the release of Google Earth for Macintosh on Tuesday, January 10th. This is an amazing piece of software: easy to use and master, and very useful when on business or vacation. Wow!

http://earth.google.com/

Flies by Night - Gone Fishing?

Two of the most interesting and unique stores in downtown Hayward, within a couple of storefronts of each other on B Street, are the fishing supply stores: Flies by Night; and the Rod and Rack.

Flies by Night is (was) one of the downstairs tenants in the Green Shutter Hotel. A suspicious sign appeared a few months ago, something about the space being for lease -- but please don't disturb the current residents. Weird.

I was making my daily walk (consititutional?) through downtown and noticed the boxed up remnants of Flies by Night. I would guess this means that yet another downtown business has closed shop. Interestingly, the Green Shutter has been in the news with the recent closing of Ryan's Antiques, and the seismic analysis trench that was dug out next to the Hotel over the past month. Some of these stories were in the Daily Review; some from my conversations with the merchants.

I've never patronized either store, but they've definitely added to the diversity of downtown Hayward. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next year or so....

Hayward Council nixes Tattoo

The Hayward City Council, by a 4-2 vote, upheld the Planning Commission's denial for a conditional use permit for the third tattoo parlor in downtown Hayward. I watched the tail end of the public hearing on channel 15, and heard some of the last few public speakers, both for and against the tattoo parlor, and the comments of the councilmembers.

I heard the remarks of the psycho logist who commented on that she was a liberal but her constituents have stereotyped all people who get tattoos as gangbangers. She had very little credibility, in my humble opinion. It didn't smell right. Hey, business is business.

I think a couple of the council were concerned that this wasn't the right mix of business (that is, "restaurants") to complement Cinema Place. My comment still stands: beggars can't be choosers. If the business is vibrant and healthy and isn't associated wih repeated criminal activities, then bring it on, again, in my humble opinion.

The lame duck mayor didn't make much sense, again, in my opinion. She was intimating that the City Council could stop Starbucks-on-every-corner if they wanted. What is she talking about?

I felt more comfortable with councilmember Quirk's and Halliday's opinions (the two votes against the motion to uphold the Planning Commission). Halliday was especially critical of the "discrimination" (or was it "discrminatory"?) opinion/views of the council majority.

Halliday's summary was: the price of business is getting the right permits. If you don't get the right permits, you don't get the business. Hopefully the (thwarted tattoo parlor) business person can rebound from this slap in the face and make money elsewhere. What the council told them, essentially, is: you're nice people but we don't need your kind of business 'roun here.

In terms of "diversity" the leading business in downtown Hayward is: "for lease." So much for diversity.

Too Much Tattoo? Hayward's Tattoo Parlor Wars

The Hayward City Council will take up the Tattoo Parlor issue at this Tuesday's
(1/10/06) Council meeting. The applicant is seeking a conditional use permit to open the city's sixth tattoo store, on Foothill Boulevard between A and B Streets. (This would be the City's third downtown tattoo establishment, after Russell City Tattoo at Mission & B Streets; and Pinpoint Tattoo on Second Street between A and B.)

One condition of the conditional use permit would be for the tattoo parlor to minimize loitering. The loitering issue appears to be the chief criticism for this type of business.

Two letters in opposition are included in the council's packet: one from a neighboring psychologist/business who writes "The approval of a tatoo [sic] establishment would make this neighborhood unbearable for businsesses that are trying to make Hayward a better city for all." Another letter is from a local residential landlord: "I ask that City Staff deny the request as this use is not in keeping with trying to develop a positive and vibrant downtown. In addition, Hayward already hosts several tattoo & piercing studios as well as medial [sic] marijuana clinics that in my opinion are counter-productive to the efforts made to attract retail-oriented businesses to our downtown core."

These other businesses sound a bit elitist, if you ask me.

The Planning Commission denied the conditional use permit, suggesting that "downtown Hayward needs more diversity."

And in support of the the Council approving the conditional use permit is the prospective landlord, who writes: "My reasons for supporting [the applicant] are two-fold. First, I believe that tattoos and piercing has become very mainstream in the under 30 age crowd. While I had been worried about 'attracting the wrong crowd,' I don't view things the same way now because tattoos and piercing are so prevalent in college age kids, as well as people younger and older. Second, I see [the applicant] as highly responsible and dedicated to creating a first class facility. We are planning to submit facade improvements for the building later this year. As a landlord I am committed to improving with the area. I think [the applicant] is sincere in wanting to be a positive business in downtown and I am optimistic he will do so."

In my opinion, the City of Hayward should be welcoming new businesses to locate downtown. Can downtown support three tattoo parlors? I don't know. The applicant is willing and able to test the market, so let them come. This "business against business" attitude is not healthy, and smacks of elitism.

In terms of attracting downtown retailers / businesses, the City of Hayward should remember that "beggars can't be choosers." The vacancy rates in downtown along B Street are staggering, and the City needs to open up to get more "diversity" in downtown Hayward....

Hayward's online Geographic Information System

The City of Hayward has a very useful, online geographic information system (GIS) of interest to residents and businesses. The web site is here: http://gis.hayward-ca.gov/

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an essential tool for city planning departments, and provides non-experts with access to the same sets of data as used by the professional planners.

An exceptional ability of the Hayward online GIS is the ability to show aerial photography for various years. Hayward has year-by-year data between 1999 and 2004. The color aerials for 2004 are amazingly sharp, and well worth checking out.