Agenda Item # 10.1 - Tracey Miller | Received 01/16/2024CAUTION: This email originated from an External Source. Please use proper judgment and caution
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From:Council Member Zachary Hilton
To:Public Comments
Subject:Fwd: EXTERNAL - Tempo Parklet Letter to Council
Date:Tuesday, January 16, 2024 5:37:01 PM
Please add this under public comment to Item # 10.1 for the Jan 22 agenda.
Zach Hilton
Gilroy City Council Member
www.zachhilton.com
#HiltonForCouncil @zachhilton_ca
Begin forwarded message:
From:
Date: January 16, 2024 at 4:27:14 PM PST
To: Mayor Marie Blankley <Marie.Blankley@ci.gilroy.ca.us>, Council Member
Rebeca Armendariz <Rebeca.Armendariz@ci.gilroy.ca.us>, Council Member
Dion Bracco <Dion.Bracco@ci.gilroy.ca.us>, Council Member Tom Cline
<Tom.Cline@ci.gilroy.ca.us>, Council Member Zachary Hilton
<Zachary.Hilton@ci.gilroy.ca.us>, Council Member Carol Marques
<Carol.Marques@ci.gilroy.ca.us>, Council Member Fred Tovar
<Fred.Tovar@ci.gilroy.ca.us>
Subject: EXTERNAL - Tempo Parklet Letter to Council
Greetings City Council Members,
My name is Tracey Miller and, together with my husband Tom, we are the
owners of 7560 Monterey St., home of Tempo Kitchen and Bar and the
adjoining parklet. (We also have 4 other tenants upstairs and have kept the
building 100% occupied for the past 4 years through Covid.) We understand
that you are considering removing all parklets, and we strongly urge you to
reconsider this action.
In December 2016, when Tom (raised in Gilroy) brought me to downtown
Gilroy and showed me the dilapidated, uncared-for building he wanted us to
purchase in the severely unoccupied and depressed downtown, I thought he
had lost his mind. Spending our life savings (no deep pockets here) to invest
in what seemed more like a ghost town than a downtown seemed crazy. “It
just needs vitality and people…community…places for people to gather, eat
and drink,” he urged me. And because part of his soul lives in this town (his
dad was a City Councilman and founding father of the Garlic Festival), we
agreed to the risk. And that’s just what it was….a gigantic risk.
Part of Tom’s vision for increased vitality and community was to include a
parklet in the site-plan for the restaurant. What better way to turn a ghost
town into an ALIVE town by having people gather where other people can
see them! I won’t go into all the ways parklets increase community – just
look at EVERY OTHER CITY in the Bay Area to see how vital parklets are to
vibrancy. Not to mention covid and the need for safe spaces for patrons to
dine.
In 2016 we struggled to find a tenant willing to also take the risk and jump
with us in this vision. Tom was knocking on doors all over the Bay Area. We
had prospective tenants do site-visits and nearly laugh at us. Despite the
rejections we eventually found a tenant and we pumped more money into
the building than the cost of the building itself. But even our first tenant
(who left owing us hundreds of thousands of dollars) walked away because
they could not see a clear path to profitability in the downtown of this City.
And we are still not out of the woods.
The downtown is still way below occupancy, with very few major tenants in
the works. The difficulty in finding major tenants is absolutely real. And
although Tempo has experienced some success, restaurants succeed by slim
margins. Taking away the parklet will stunt the business and hurt Tempo.
We jumped through hoops with ABC, Health Department and the City to get
this parklet approved, and built it under guidance from the City.
Instead of crippling businesses with parklets that are taking risks to invest in
Downtown Gilroy, we urge you to support them – both of them. Tempo is
now an anchor tenant bringing visibility and vibrancy through exposure in
the parklet. If Tempo fails it will be a MAJOR setback to Downtown’s
progress.
Please don’t go backwards.
Thank you,
Tracey Miller