Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
by John Omaha
What I will miss most is the children. Babies in carriers, ten year old girls coming from soccer games with their “besties,” boys in baseball uniforms. That's what Carmen's Burger Bar has meant to me. A neighborhood restaurant serving families. The bar defined the smallish adults' space. The large dining area opened up with tables and a high ceiling where families assembled. Older folks came in. A covered porch in front provided al fresco dining. Carmen's Burger Bar served the families of the Proctor Terrace area. It has been—and will be until June 30—a place where families could gather and order excellent hamburgers, an assortment of Mexican food, milkshakes, beer, wine, and Margaritas for a reasonable price. Carmen's Burger Bar was a focal point for the neighborhood. All that will change after June 30 when the Stark's juggernaut displaces Carmen's, replacing it with a new iteration of the upscale Willi's Wine Bar that burned down in the October fires.
The Stark empire comprises four upscale Sonoma County restaurants metastasizing from Stark's Steakhouse. Willi's Wine Bar was located on Old Redwood Highway north of town. None could remotely be classified as a neighborhood restaurant. I have never seen a kid in a sports uniform in any of them. I have eaten alone in all of them paying at least $100 for food and wine. Hardly a family friendly venue.
Proctor Terrace organizes a warren of streets around a small shopping center featuring the Pacific Market and Carmen's, brooded over by the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery. The new Willi's Wine Bar will not be a place to take your kids after a tough game or to socialize with the parents of the kids' teammates. Not a place to watch the Giants on one of Carmen's two TV sets or to feed a family of four for $50. Willi's attracted crowds of Mercedes-driving young, college-educated well-paid professionals who could afford the steep prices. If they had children, they'd left them with a sitter.
I will miss the children, the families and the feeling of neighborhood.
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I submitted this essay to the Open Mic section of The Bohemian. Star Man
Re: Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:
Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
by John Omaha...
Thank you to all the readers who gave gratitude to me for this post. There does not seem to be anything we can do. The Starks have outbid Carmen for the lease. Money! Greed wins again. What do the Starks need another restaurant for? What is so important to them that they would destroy a neighborhood to get it? Power? Power to ruin a neighborhood? Pitiful. Just pitiful.
Re: Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:
Thank you to all the readers who gave gratitude to me for this post. There does not seem to be anything we can do. The Starks have outbid Carmen for the lease. Money! Greed wins again. What do the Starks need another restaurant for? What is so important to them that they would destroy a neighborhood to get it? Power? Power to ruin a neighborhood? Pitiful. Just pitiful.
I can understand you being upset about Carmens', or that you think the Stark's new operation won't fit the neighborhood you dream of (which sadly is dying in a world with social media - not gentrification).
However now you're just sounding vindictive.
What do the Stark's need another operation for? Perhaps keeping the employees who lost work from the fire employed? Anyone who knows business knows that you need to give employees growth, which means companies must grow or lose them.
Re: Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by ChefJayTay:
...Anyone who knows business knows that you need to give employees growth, which means companies must grow or lose them.
There, Chef JayTay, is the problem with business and the destruction of the world: Expansion without regard for consequences. Expansion of mining destroys sacred lands in the Southwest. Expansion of an already bloated restaurant chain destroys the neighborhood and the livelihood of Carmen and the people who work at her restaurant. See, you forgot to factor the jobs of Carmen's employees into your calculations. And how is Carmen supposed to keep her former employees in jobs, supporting their families? The Starks could have rebuilt out on Mendocino where Willi's Wine bar was located. The Starks make enough money to do that no matter what the permitting process. Your comments, Chef JayTay, are narrow-minded and selfish. Those are qualities that define the Stark empire and its clientele.
Re: Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
Now you're taking it out on me. Awesome! Keep it coming. You're accomplishing so much.
I'll refrain from referring to you as narrow minded or selfish, as I don't really know you.
If you wanna call it evolution, business, whatever. It's life. Carmens' was OUTBID. As in, they had a chance to keep the spot, but choose not to. I started my last post stating you might feel sorry for them and merely took issue with you condemning the Starks for REPLACING their former business.
Re: Gentrification dooms a Neighborhood
Your case is solid and the Starks just might listen! Don't assume no power. Yes change is inevitable, and we all have a hand in guiding it. Money means a lot but, not everything...
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:
There, Chef JayTay, is the problem with business and the destruction of the world: Expansion without regard for consequences....
