The Arden Arcade Community Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC) will be meeting at 7pm on August 25th in the Swanston Community Center at 2350 Northrop Ave. Their agenda includes 1) approving or disapproving a to-go liquor license and 2) taking community comments on a mid-rise storage facility building. People can attend in person or may listen and make public comments by calling the teleconference number: dial (669) 254-5252 and when prompted enter Conference ID 160 260 9819 and ## to join the meeting. Both of these underwhelming proposals are exactly what we have come to expect from a municipal services manager (the County) with no vision for the community and no sensitivity to the needs  and wants of our residents and businessess.

Liquor License. This is the Public Convenience and Necessity (PCN) item we wrote about on June 16th. It was going to be considered at the June CPAC meeting but was postponed. The 99¢ store at Howe and El Camino wants to sell take-out liquor. State regulations say the area already has too many places that have that kind of liquor license. So it should be a definite no, right? Wrong! The Board of Supervisors has a history of LOVING extra liquor licenses all over Arden Arcade. We can imagine our former Supervisor asking so what if the 99¢ store's shopping center has a liquor store and a convenience store with liquor licenses? And saying that competition is great, isn't it? (Yeah, right, especially if the new guy is an LA-based, NYSE-listed, Delaware-registered corporation).  Will this time be different? Tell the CPAC your opinion and be prepared to say it again once the CPAC refers the PCN to the Supervisors.

Storage Facility. We wrote about this proposal on August 12th. Disappointed as we have been by the County's tolerance of the ruins of the old Saving Center building on Watt, we just can't see value for our community to have that location become the site of yet another storage facility. To the credit of the developer and the CPAC, this item is on the CPAC's agenda for community input, not approval. While there might be justification for Arden Arcade to have even more storage facilities than we already do (and we have plenty), it's not the kind of facility that amounts to much in the way of commercial sales taxes. As for the proposed location, there won't be much added value for the adjacent residential neighborhoods and commercial businesses if such a facility is build there. The Watt Avenue corridor is a mess. Multi-family housing, condos, and/or mixed use commercial/residential solutions might work at the site. But a storage facility there, in the heart of our community? How many communities do you know where these facilities are plunked down along Main Street? A storage facility might be reasonable buffer against a freeway or train tracks. Is the proposal a statement that Watt Avenue is a de facto freeway that needs such a buffer? If you have community input about this proposal, the CPAC wants to hear from you.