South Park Starbucks Loses Its Seats

It's strange how such a big deal would be made over the couches and chairs at this location where the sidewalks are wide and there is plenty of space for everyone ... while the Quiznos and Pastagina in the Market Lofts have taken ownership of the sidewalk with their seating.

But it's also no secret that the city requires sidewalk permits for outdoor seating. Shouldn't Starbucks have known that?

LA cracking down on the REAL CRIME! GOOD JOB! Forget about the empty, ugly, cracked sidewalks. Let's penalize the few businesses that actually make the place look half-decent. You gotta hand it to whoever prioritizes over there at City Hall.

Anyone else find it amusing that you need a permit for a couple of chairs, but not to put up your tent for the night?

The Building department works on a "response enforcement" basis, which means someone called to report / complain about the Starbucks seating. Nobody complained for two years, so it was not an issue for two years.

There is a lot of illegal sidealk dining throughout the city which goes unchecked until it gets reported. There are not building department inspectoirs walking around the whole city looking for problems to issue tickets about.

As long as a business is "in the process" of complaince, they are usually left alone and Starbucks could have been given a grace period if Jan Perry's office asked for it.

Where's da dough, ya know???! Pay your seating dues!!! Come on: ya wanna play - ya gotta pay! Or maybe someone got fired and then got even.

Where, exactly is the private property line? Look at all of that empty space. Does the back edge of the public sidewalk run right up against the front of the building?

Where is Jan Perry? We need your pull. It created an instand "neighborhood". We need a reprieve. Bring back the furniture. What a crock.

people can camp out on the streets with tents and cardbords but stores cant have outdoor seating? this is ridiculous!

The homeless are pretty much immune to the law. What are you going to do? Put them in jail? haha! That's just free lodging and food for them. Since the jails are so inundated with criminals from all over, the homeless would get a few nights in the slammer, a few meals, and would be released.

Now, regular folks with homes...they have way more to lose. So abide by the law because it can actually be enforced!

Brigham, Benjamin, and Jason Burns: Who do you think you are? The homeless situation is serious, and nobody likes to see people out on the street so we have to deal with it in a humane fashion. They need help and there is no one out there doing anything except bitching.

As much as you yuppies hate to see those icky homeless and schizophrenics running around the streets and just want to push them out of sight and out of mind, its something you have to take with a grain of salt if you want to live in a urban area such as downtown, or anywhere in Los Angeles for that matter. Otherwise, I suggest you moving out to the suburbs and get a nice non descript track home where you can have all the Starbucks and Applebees your selfish little hearts desire.

los angeles is so freakin backwards!!!!!!! Is it that hard for the city to realize that people like outside dining? Dont these people making the decisions ever eat out? Outdoor seating is what give a block of buildings a neighborhood feel. The city needs to make it standard to have outdoor seating evrywhere as long as they leave a 3 ft wide path.

I concur with a.r. and want to add that living downtown requires a sensitivity to issues that living in the suburbs does not. Issues like homelessness, immigration, gentrification and even incarceration are larger and more complicated than somehow finding a correlation between Starbucks' street furniture permits and the chronic challenge of people in this (the greatest) country living without a home.

So Brigham, Benjamin, and Jason Burns: do some studying, gain some insight and compassion or get out of downtown.

A.R. and Marc, what those three said is very valid. They didnt say the homeless situation isnt dire or deny that these people need help. But it ridiculous that someone can piss and shit on a sidewalk, pitch a tent in front of any building and get away with it, yet a business that produces money and improves a neighborhood cannot put chairs outside without a permit and must shut it down until it does. I know the homeless need help, but there are shelters all around and so forth.

I agree with the above.

ok to have the laws enforced. under the circumstances, could have given them a reasonable time to comply "or else" Getting rid of the seating seems counter productive-but who said any government agency been known to use common sense?

FISH writes:

This is absolutely ridiculous. I live in Elleven above Starbucks. Call this coffee chain whatever, but they've done a lot for the South Park area. I don't drink coffee, but I like what the store has done for our area. There's a sense of "community," which is something that was lacking before. The city is so ass backwards. The street lights have been out for months, particularly on 11th Street. When visitors come down to explore "LA LIVE," it isn't necessarily bright or safe looking on the walk over. Why can't the city spend time fixing the city lights vs. pulling rank on Starbucks' furniture?? It may take someone hitting a Kings / Lakers / Clippers fan because they couldn't be seen at night for the city to wake the hell up. LA LIVE is launching, yet they can't make it safe for visitors or businesses on 11th Street from Grand to Flower. Not very encouraging for those new to the "revitalized downtown."

put the chairs/tables back, set up a camera, and apply for a film permit. filmla always pushes them through and voila, you have outdoor seating again.

Jennifer Girsky writes:

I agree with FISH, the city should really take care of important safety issues such as the lack of lighting on 11th Street. It's funny that the city has received numerous complaints about the lack of lighting and not fixed that problem, but one complaint about the Starbucks chairs and swift action was taken?

wouldn't it be nice if the city of Los Angeles reviewed some of its Old laws,and for the New Los Angeles city,developing as we speak. This regarding Starbucks having to move their chair's and sofa's off the sidewalk. Side walk sitting , a friendly meeting place ,something that happens in Barcelona ,and all over europe,everyday,it makes no sense stop buiseness try to form a new urban vibe downtown,LA resident lucky luke

11th street only looks dark in contrast to the bright lights of LA Live. Why must we light every foot of every street?

As for the seating, I thought business could provide seating on their own property. The Property line of the building extends to the overhangs not where the wall meets the sidewalk.

FISH writes:

RLK- Perhaps because we're trying to shake the image that downtown is shady, dark, and dangerous (insert joke here). The NOKIA Club just opened up and Congo Room is about to follow, along with several restaurants. People don't want to pay $25 to park next to Staples, so they park a couple of blocks away (which is exactly what I used to do prior to moving downtown). The street is DARK at night. I can look down from my window and see the street everying evening. Our terrace has more lighting than this street. It's not safe for people that walk, park, or drive in the area. Keep in mind there are businesses along this corridor, including a great salon. It gets dark at 5pm now, so does does help a salon that's open until 7?

FYI- After several months, the street lights came back on tonight (11/22/08).