Will the "small mom and pop stores" be able to afford the current high rents? Perhaps only the chains have the resources for that. Or will weak rental competition eventually lower the rental rates? Will the landlords approve of the council's decision then? Artificiality has its drawbacks.

Truly a bad ordinance. The city government should have as much to do with the mix of businesses on a given street as it does with the racial makeup of who can buy houses in a particular neighborhood. That is to say, nothing whatsoever.

I strongly feel that this will end up being the demise of the area. Apart from those who work or live in walking distance, it is the chains that are the anchors to the area. I am unlikely to visit an unfamiliar store unless I pass it and if there are so many unfamiliar stores I am unlikely to visit the area anyway. I am drawn by something familiar that I want to visit. I tend not to be drawn to the unfamiliar.

Ellen makes a great point. Commercial space rental costs may be unsustainable for small, local businesses. Will the city then step in and try to regulate what a commercial property owner can demand for leasing his/her property? With this city council, it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

If this same law had been enacted years ago on University Avenue (and the rest of the downtown area), the place wouldn't have much to offer. There would be no Cheesecake Factory, RocketFizz, CVS, Starbucks, Peet's, Pizza My Heart, Yogurtland, Subway, Sprint, Verizon, Apple Store, Paris Baguette, La Boulange, Whole Foods, etc...

What difference does it make? Even most Mom & Pop stores aspire to expand. People know what they want and will shop/dine in places that they desire. If it isn't in Palo Alto, they will go elsewhere. There is a domino effect with this that effects other businesses in the area.

If only landlords weren't so greedy, if only rents weren't so high, then mom and pop businesses could afford Cal Ave

But, landlords are entitled to what the market will bear, and only big chains can afford the rents here. So why exclude them?

There are a couple of chains on California, but it's mostly independents, so as long as rents aren't boosted excessively and commerce doesn't grind to a halt because of some sort of massive redevelopment, making California an enclave for local businesses seems like a good thing. I already find it more useful than University--it has a stationery store, a toy store, a real health foods store, the city's only remaining art store. I just wish there was a book store again.

Cheesecake and its ilk are amongst the parts of University Avenue which I loathe. The small ethnic stores (Iranian, Vietnamese,etc) serve delicious food. Quite a difference.

Alice, just because you don't like a business doesn't mean that the city government should prevent others from having the choice to go there. If enough people agree with you, the business will fail all on its own.

Since the ARB, with staff support, approved The Cheesecake
Factory on University Ave a chain store limit on California Ave
is mandatory since this shows what can happpen.

How about a chain store ban for Edgewood too? That way we can get an eclectic mom and pop grocery store.

All things being considered though, shouldn't we feel lucky and grateful for any store thats willing to locate in Palo Alto?

@ Casey - great idea if you want to keep the location closed. Somewhere between the Sand Hill claim of asking every grocer on the planet and all the residents claiming that there are plenty of candidates lies the truth. But if you want to reduce the candidate pool to a handful of grocers, go for it.

Economies of scale are what drives the grocery business. Despite what happens in our local economy (high tech profits, etc.), grocery chains face razor thin margins. A chain grocery actually stands a better chance at succeeding at the Edgewood location as their overall wholesale buying power will (on average) helps to keep their operating costs lower.

High volume is how modern retail makes it in these times.

Chains and buying COOPs have the High volume to demand discounts and also have the economics of bulk (truck load) deliveries.

Mom and Pop do not have the resources for big advertising blitzes.
Mom and Pop do not have the extra resources for new product introduction (ability to survive a flop).
RENT,
Utilities
and Payrolls must be met, on time.

Here is hoping that vacancies will force RENT to drop.

Planning Commissioner Kate Downing said she didn't see any reason to limit the number of hair and nail salons. They seem to make a living.
That's the caliber of a person who serves on the city's Planning Commission.

BTW the 5 members of the ARB who approved the Facade of Roxy Rapp's Cheesecake Factory building on March 6, 2003 were
Board members: Lee Lippert (Chair), Drew Maran(Vice Chair), Kenneth Kornberg, Judith Wasserman, Susan Eschweiler

Staff: Amy French, Current Planning Manager
Staff Liaison: Steven Turner, Planner

Seems to me that the city has tried many times, and has failed miserably each time, trying to regulate grocery stores in specific locations. Edgewood Plaza the latest blunder, and the former JJ&F development almost assuredly to be the next blunder, and it's not even finished.

While I appreciate the dislike and/or misfit of chain stores by some of the Cal Ave merchants, be very careful of what you wish for. That simple choice today may have unintended consequences down the road. Besides, any business will flourish, survive, or die depending on what their customers decide to do with their cash, not what city hall mandates. There are a couple of 'chain' shops on Cal Ave, eateries, that I have visited and can't figure out why they persist. I expect that in time, they will disappear.

Joseph E. Davis,

If the landowners along California Avenue didn't want the government meddling in their business, then they shouldn't have pushed the Palo Alto City Council and staff to seek California State redevelopment funds to gentrify the street.

I didn't hear any complaints about government meddling when it involved the landowners getting millions in taxpayer funds from the government to improve their properties.

My issue is that most chain stores and restaurants are franchises. They are small businesses. I read somewhere that most Subway restaurants are owned by individuals who own just one or two restaurants (usually in the same town our area). I suspect that the same is true with most chain restaurants that e encourage franchises. Does this policy limit them?

@Watched the meeting
Good research on the "Cake" debacle on University Ave. Also I believe
the item was initially agendized for ARB review as a "facade remodel" then changed. It was a total gutting of the Copelands Sports for an unfettered mall design Cheesecake Factory for the heart of Downtown Palo Alto on University Ave. Ironic that a sports equipment and exercise equipment store which Cake replaced is at the other end of the spectrum from a Cheesecake Factory. "Cake" a couple months ago took second place I believe in the Xtreme Eating Awards given by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for the worst chain restaurant meals in terms of calories, saturated fats,sodium and added sugars for their Louisiana Chicken Pasta. If there was a national award for the worst urban design in a Downtown commercial district Cheesecake Factory on University Ave in Palo Alto would take 1st
place in that one, the Grand Prize.

On a constructive note let's try this. The founder, CEO and Chairman of Cheesecake Factory,David Overton, was a drummer in a rock band in SF in the 60's. He knows Palo Alto.The Grateful Dead was formed in Palo Alto. Jerry Garcia rented instruments at Swain's House of Music on University Ave,
down the street from where Cheesecake Factory is now. So why don't Overton and Roxy Rapp get together and do a complete facade remodel of Cake on
University Ave?

Thanks, running, it did take quite a bit of searching. Can't find the minutes for that meeting.
About changing the facade, it is possible Roxy likes it the way it is. But since he constantly claims how much he loves Palo Alto, maybe the idea would appeal to him, to avoid his building being a candidate for the worst design in town.
We need a contest.

@Watched the meeting
When Rapp put a Cheesecake Factory on University Ave in 2003 it was known at that time for 40 minute waits in malls around the country. This one on University Ave was about number 100 in the chain. So for Rapp it looks like it was a business decision and the context was not a determining factor.
The next 50 Cakes following University Ave in Downtown Palo Alto I believe were all in malls. Even in those settings in a place like Bellevue WA and now recently opened in Downtown San Diego at the historic Headquarters at Seaport there is strict sign control on the street facade. So there you have it. You would think at this point that Roxy Rapp would concentrate his efforts and all his energy. even at his own expense, on doing a complete facade remodel just for the sake of his own legacy in Palo Alto. And David Overton as well would join Rapp in getting it done. He was the drummer in a rock band in SF in the 60's- how can he accept this outcome on University Ave in Downtown Palo Alto? A prominent techie from NYC here for a conference not long ago, saw the Cheesecake Factory on University Ave and said to me "I thought a place like Palo Alto would have design control". And he took that image back with him to NYC.

The residents of Palo Alto need to stop humbly imploring the marquee real-estate developers to solve the problem. The real-estate developer are not the solution, the real-estate developers are the problem.

After years of abuse by real-estate developers, some Palo Alto residents seem to have developed a form of Stockholm Syndrome, where they have come to identify with their abusers/captors.

Stockholm Syndrome Web Link

"Posted by Joseph E. Davis a resident of Woodside on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:55 am

Truly a bad ordinance. The city government should have as much to do with the mix of businesses on a given street as it does with the racial makeup of who can buy houses in a particular neighborhood. That is to say, nothing whatsoever."


We have received our instructions from Developerville. Take note, city council.