City of
LEMOORE
CALIFORNIA
3/7/2023
City Council Special Meeting
Handouts received after
agenda posted
From: Nicholas Allen
To: City Clerk
Subject: Letter to the City Council - Bird Street Brewery Date: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 12:59:18 PM
To Whom It May Concern,
I hope this letter finds you well and thank you for taking the time to read this.
My name is Nick Allen, I’ve been a resident of Lemoore for over 30 years. In those 30 years, I consistently hear the gripe of, “Lemoore is boring; there’s never anything to do.” For the longest time, I agreed. Yes, there are events occasionally; but rarely any local businesses that actively brings the community together. Bird Street was that place; an escape from the dayto-day grind of working, coming home, making dinner, only to wash and repeat.
Phil and Roslyn gave us a space for many of us to come together and bond, not get drunk and silly…but to truly interact with one another and learn more about our fellow man/woman.
Since Bird Street opened its doors; I’ve met many new faces and have formed some strong friendships. I looked forward to going downtown on Thursday evening to hang out and unwind. It was always a pleasure to see what conversations pop up while chatting and listening to music. Bird Street brought local blue-collar workers, farmers and NAVY personnel together, as well as people from out of town who have heard about this amazing brewery and brew master. Bird Street was a home away from home so to speak.
I’ve known Phil since 2001 and I can say with 100% certainty, he’s a very responsible man and not one to let bills or payments slip through the cracks. I’m sure there was a simple reasoning as to why his business license payment was misplaced…but I’m unsure as to why there’s no accountability on the city and city manager's behalf. If a check was simply misplaced or lost; what’s the harm in owning up to that and being transparent? A statement to the nature of, “we can’t confirm if the payment was or was not received.” Sounds like a vague cop-out and leaves the problem in the business owner’s hands. We all know, this issue isn’t about the money. I’m 100% certain any one of us regulars would pick up that $25 tab for the lost check IMMEDIATELY. This is about principles and it’s evident that the city is falling short on this situation. How can we expect more small and local business to want to come to our town when there’s stories like these (among others that don’t need to be addresses in this letter). I personally want to pursue a small local business; but I’m horrified of taking out a business loan to start, only to have the city of Lemoore’s management to be my demise.
Lemoore has always been big on community, but if you allow Bird Street to walk away from this town, you are affectively knocking down a pillar of this community. I implore you all to put your heads together and find a solution that will benefit this community. This isn’t just some dive bar. This is an institution that you should be enthralled that they want to operate and bring revenue to THIS city.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Nick Allen
From: MICHAEL CURNEL
To: City Clerk
Subject: My Opinion of current state of Lemoore
Date: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 11:44:59 AM
March 7, 2023
Michael Curnel
236 East D St.
Lemoore, CA. 93245
Dear Lemoore City Council,
My name is Michael Curnel and I live right here in Lemoore. I have lived here for over 26 years and made my home here while serving in the U.S. Navy. I have since retired from the military service and now work in the law enforcement community. I am writing this letter today after many years of being upset with the way I see the direction of this city moving.
Sadly, the city of Lemoore has been notorious for many years for being a bad place for "Mom & Pop" businesses to come and do business. If you are a major gas company, some type of fast food chain, or even a marijuana selling business you have made these companies feel more than welcome here in our city to much of the peoples displeasure. I know you all are already aware of this from previous city council meetings. However the sad fact is that the city council and city manager seem to feed off of that negativity somehow. Why do I say that? Because nothing has been done for years to rectify this. However when it comes to bringing high dollar marijuana selling businesses to down you will do back flips to please them and ruin the downtown motif you said you were going to keep at all costs, now look how dumb it looks with the Natural Healing Center there right in the middle all lit up. So sad that you are making doing business for families so difficult. We can name so many businesses that have come and gone. Now we have on our hands the possibility of saving a handful of businesses before they completely leave or fail. Please, give your help to small businesses like Bird Street Brewing who has done so much for this community. They are a business that have been here for quite a few years and have done great things, do not let them leave our town! Please also help out the family that closed Simply Mediterranean so suddenly, and help them to stay in Business. I will be so upset if we lose these two businesses for good. I'm even betting that if these two businesses are allowed to fail we will see multiple small businesses in town close up in the fallout. Please do what ever you can to help them to survive and continue serving our community. We need these businesses in a very bad way right now.
I very much hope that my concerns will be heard with positivity and the change in direction will happen to help and support Bird Street Brewing and Simply Mediterranean. Please focus your attention on these smaller businesses rather than the big chain fast food restaurants and truck stops you envision in our small town.
These are the types of business that are not needed by the people in this community unless your future vision of Lemoore is just a quick stop off the highway to fill up your vehicle, use the restroom and grab a coffee and sandwich? This is the town we live in, lets support small business here and the vision we used to have as a beautiful small town.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope this does not fall on deaf ears or ears that can only hear cash registers ringing. Thank You for your time.
Very Respectfully,
Michael Curnel
Lemoore Resident