It looks like the future of the Mission Bowling Club is in jeopardy, thanks to $44,000 in “special fees” which San Francisco is imposing on Sommer Peterson, the gal responsible for the project (which, we’ll remind you, includes bringing back the Mission Burger). So what exactly constitutes a “special fee”? The Examiner breaks it down:
The Planning Department is imposing extra “impact fees” on Peterson because officials say she’s converting a warehouse — which is zoned as light industrial — to entertainment use. As part of major rezoning in 2008 of The City’s eastern neighborhoods, including the site of the warehouse, an impact fee was established to help pay for community benefits such as parks or road repairs. Impact fees account for about half of Peterson’s $44,000 tab; the other half is for a Muni transit fee, which has been on the books since 1981 and was extended citywide in the early 2000s.
Read on for more of the trials and tribulations of the Mission Bowling Club.
. So what exactly constitutes a “special fee”? The Examiner breaks it down: […]</p>
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City fee gouging, clearly. Thank you, San Francisco, for saying “NO” to nice things.
But outrageous and arbitrary fees are part of the SF progressive utopian dream!
shut up.
Make me.
i don’t make monkeys, i train them.
I don’t train monkeys, I evolve them. Oh, but I do teach them to use uppercase when typing proper pronouns!
She should call it Mission Bowling Club y Casa de la Raza. The city would probably give her a few grants.
Nice petty attempt at racist humor you prick.
lulz
Clearly, the solution is to put the bowling alley in a truck and drive it around town.
Like
Comment of the month.
Well, it’s certainly a good thing that the impact of transforming a vacant storefront into an occupied business will be defrayed by these fees! I mean, imagine what would happen if people went around doing that sort of thing willy-nilly!
Welcome to the neighborhood, people. Where were your butts when we were fighting the idiotic Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning nightmare these few short years ago?
March on Chris Daly’s stupid boring bar and demand his explanation.
And next time, get off your asses and vote.
The Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning was fairly typical of Planning Department initiatives. It was so large and complex that it was really impossible for the average citizen to understand or participate in. I tried but was unable to get any response from Planning regarding my specific questions regarding my neighborhood. I don’t know what powers that be supported it, but it certainly wasn’t requested by the people living in the area.
Fuck all these fees. It’s not like they’re opening ANOTHER dive bar. It’s not like they’re opening ANOTHER taqueria. It’s not like they’re opening ANOTHER wine bar. This is something unique and special, and sorely missing from the Mission. This is a really asshole move, and if SF can grant Twitter THEIR corporate tax break, they can manage to weasel out a deal with these “fees.”
Who goes into business without a business plan.. 50k in licensing fee’s for 8000sf of space that is going to be rezoned is not outrageous for any city. She could have picked a spot that didn’t need the fee’s but long term her lease would probably be a lot more then the 50k.
Don’t just ‘do’ things.. plan them out.
Cost of doing business should have been factored in to the business plan and calculated in to the break-even point, what’s the big deal?
You are correct, sir.
They could always move to a “bad” part of town and get a bailout from City Hall like Twitter or Yoshi’s.
I caught a little bit of Peterson on local TV last night addressing some commission at City Hall (was flipping through channels, so I’m not sure if it was the Entertainment Commission or what). She was claiming that the City wasn’t forthcoming about the amount of fees early on and had estimated that they would be about half what they are currently despite her efforts to work this out beforehand. In a City like SF, you are best served to hire an expert to navigate through the permitting process for you.
According to the article she was informed Nov. 2010 about the fees.
Aren’t you all art students with trust funds? Just pay for it yourselves if you want to bowl so bad.
Thank God. I thought I was the only one.