The Issue Is Alcohol, Not Pool

Glendale, wake up. Playing pool, or any other activity, has never been the issue between the neighbors and the VFW. The establishment of a full-time bar operating from 11 in the morning until 10 at night, seven days a week, selling alcohol is the issue.

They have a bar now operating in the proper location, in a commercial zone away from residents and children. But they have decided to move. It makes no difference to them that the proposed bar will be right in the midst of a highly residential family area.

Why should it? They do not live on the streets involved, or attend the church located right next door to this building. I rather doubt that any are parents of very young schoolchildren who walk past this building every day on the way to our local elementary school.

We who live here know only too well the hardship we face now from the overload of traffic. The streets that surround this American Legion Hall in La Crescenta are old and narrow, and have no sidewalks. Every day we face hazards with cars and kids trying to avoid each other.

Yet, they see nothing wrong with wanting us to put up with more cars, and now drivers who have been drinking. All because it is of prime importance to their group, the VFW.

The city of Glendale has zoning codes that prohibit bars, public or private, from locating in any R1 district. We, as taxpayers, want those laws upheld.

The city has granted a variance to the VFW so they could have their bar over the rights of the neighborhood. It was a bitter lesson to learn that nothing the residents presented to the city made any difference.

During the hearings, then-Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg, who voted against us, rebuked a young mother with the statement, “This hall has had liquor in it before. . . . “

In the past, this hall has been rented occasionally for weddings, etc. The renter must apply for a one-day license in order to serve alcohol. How can anyone equate a one-day occasion to operation of a full-time bar?

Glendale has always touted itself as a family-oriented city. Yet this same city turned a deaf ear to this family-oriented community. Wake up, Glendale. We lost our R1 rights. Are yours next?

Our only hope now is the liquor board. The decision is in their hands to grant or deny a license.

BETTY and BUD SHARP

La Crescenta