it'll be virtually open late, the entire premises. To our knowledge, the applicants have no prior
experience with owning or operating a premises licensed to serve alcohol in Pennsylvania,
and per their liquor license application, have no intention to employ a manager to do so.
So, given that lack of experience to not only oversee the sale of alcohol, but also manage the issues that have been described here, our position is that this would create a chaotic environment at the premises conducive for disorderly conduct and the like.
furthermore the oversaturation of premises like license to serve alcohol in the immediate
vicinity would fundamentally diminish the character of the neighborhood so as to be
incompatible with its historic identity which we would note is residential and retail restaurant
uses are more common in the lower part of frankfort avenue not on this block okay that
That concludes my statements. Yeah. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer? Yes, Ashley Gleason, Ashley Gleason, A-S-H-L-E-Y, G-L-E-A-S-O-N. Do you swear or affirm the tell the truth, the whole truth, or nothing but the truth? Yes. Please proceed.
um first i would just like to say that i take personal offense the fact that there's any
suggestion that this is racially motivated so i'd like to put that on the record um second of all
i'd like to say that um i'm very confused by the council's comments that they were surprised
at the fna meeting because from the very first moment that we found out that the um found out
that there was going to be a restaurant next door we reached out to both the owner and the development
the developer for the past six months, no one has ever agreed to meet with us.
So for them to say that they were blindsided, I'm very confused by that.
So, so far, since June, I've met with the Fishtown bid.
I've met with Councilman Squilla. I've met with the F&A.
I've met with anyone who would talk to me to voice my concerns.
So no one has ever come to the table and said, what are your concerns?
We would like to work with you.
no one has ever said, you know, so the fact that they were blindsided, there were over 75 people
on that call for the F&A. I'd also like to mention that the close vote, actually the people who live
within 500 feet, it was 17 opposed to four approved. So it wasn't so close in the people
who are actually immediately affected by this. But, so I just had to get that out of the way
first but i do want to say that um i'm also philadelphia born and bred i've lived in fish
town for 10 years i've operated my business on this block for 10. um it's a i'm also a minority
business but there's also 12 other women-owned businesses that are on this block several of
them that are objecting to the restaurant that are either here with me or online and that um
that our block is not like the lower part of Frankfurt. It doesn't have the bars and the
restaurants and it is mostly residential and retail. So it is out of character for this block
to have a speakeasy and a restaurant. So I would like to just state that for the court.
I also want to just talk about that when they mentioned that like L&I was out there to brace
the building that was all because we called L&I because like it's already caused so much
financial and I'm sorry I'm going to get emotional but like a lot of financial difficulty for our
business we've had to already limit our hours the noise has been unbearable the trash the street
closures um i've had to be on the like be on the phone like the captain of the fishtown police
um force came out two weeks ago for an illegal sidewalk closure so the time that i should be
spent running my business i've been spent playing um like police officer with the construction
that's going that's going next door and it has been for the eight females that i also employ in
my company, it's been super stressful. So I just, for them to say that we're like, just like, oh,
we don't want the smell. That's completely a misrepresentation of that. So what I am also
really, because I do live in Fishtown and I've lived here for 20 years, I can tell you that it
is a nightmare to go down Frankfurt Avenue. The double parking, the Uber Eats, the, it could take
you this is not an exaggeration 15 minutes to go four blocks the neighborhood is overrun by uber
eats and by just like all the food takeout services so we're very concerned
And by just like all the food takeout services. So we're very concerned about this being another hotspot in the neighborhood. There's no, there's no loading zone. I get about, I get about 30 boxes delivered and about 50 that gets sent out a day with UPS.
There's like there's issues with our deliveries coming in and out there. The parking is already an issue. There's there's just the con the congestion aside from obviously the fear that we have with the odors.
And then I would just like to bring up. He mentioned Hootaburger. Hootaburger actually didn't get the proper zoning that that they needed.
We've actually been in touch with the FNA to confirm that they did not get the variance that was needed. It's not on record going through the FNA purpose.
the bid doesn't have record of it so it's there and existing but there's no proof that the
neighbors voted for it okay thank you um alan do you have questions across
well why don't we do you have any other witnesses uh no mr bourbon i would just like to uh we do
have uh mr gleason as well uh i mean mr gleason is there's well why don't you let me show you in
first. Mr. Gleason, state your name is spelled for this. Hi, my name is Colin Gleason, C-O-L-L-I-N-G-L-E-A-S-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I do, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Gleason, is there anything you're going to offer that your wife has not said? Yes, I would
just like to, I know that it's been a very emotional process for my wife, and I would just
like to add that our main objection in this process was this developer who has wreaked
havoc on this block for the last several years. Every project he has touched has, has had, um,
That's not this gentleman here. It is the, that's not this gentleman here, but the owner of the,
correct. Okay. Who is, who is currently constructing, um, this restaurant and pulled
improper permits from the beginning and proceeded the same way he did with Huda Burger to build a
restaurant when he shouldn't have and we had to hire counsel and we had to monitor this process
and we had to call ellen i every week and i i applaud everything chef will has done and and
i wish him the best and i wish that this developer would buy a new building to put him in instead of
this ancient building that is improper for this use um but we're here because we've expended a
great deal of money to make sure that this developer is kept in check because the city
is not and and i really i i'm my heart is racing and my stomach is sick and i want to run to the
bathroom because of the way applicants counsel characterized us and the nature of the fna
meeting and i wish they had let applicants counsel stay in that meeting to know that there is no
racial overtones with this right okay i understand your point thank you uh do you have questions for
him okay do you have any other questions okay well that's not your witness right no it's not
and then it just come up you have when you're not a witness you have two minutes to make your
presentation okay well i'm i'm i'm going to take her just to get it all right you have two minutes
um my name is kelly simoji sure okay yes um i live 150 hold on hold on you state your name
and spell for the song okay uh kelly simoji s-o-m-o-g-y-i do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but truth please proceed i do um i live 150 feet from the
the property um i run a business out of there i purchased my house in 2011 um i also live there
um so this would affect me greatly yeah um my main concerns are also the street congestion
um there's a lot of accidents at that corner as it is adding double parking and delivery i think
is going to be a nightmare for everybody um i also want to say that the main issue with this
is all the contradictory information that's been presented to us at the fna meeting we were told
there was no more speakeasy um it was just going to be a bar upstairs now we're hearing there's a
speakeasy again we're hearing no sprinkler system there will be a sprinkler system um and my final
thing i want to bring up is that that space where their trash is going to be stored is shared um
with a residence and a retail business and the resident that lives there is elderly and he's
been there for a very long time thank you very much for spending so much time here is that your
case you're done yeah to the extent you need either of these two to adopt my testimony we
can do so otherwise i can let it stand we're good all right are you are you done ellen
well no no wait one minute could you check to see how many people in
could you check to see how many people in the audience relative to having comments about this
the audience relative to having comments about this
could people raise their hand if they're in the audience that they want to testify about this
hi chair this is ian hagarty executive director we have one person in the virtual thank you very
very nice go ahead what what are you seeing some of the concerns about the business operations
Okay, Chef. Well, and I'll be very quick. Jeff will just come back up. You're still under oath.
So just state your name for the record. William Johnson.
What? Oh, so first of all, his name.
All right. So, uh, uh, well, uh, there was some indication the previous testimony where the trash area would be.
it's your understanding that where the trash area is outside that's on the 2043 frankfort avenue
property right uh it's in the rear of it yeah so you're not sharing with any no one else closed
okay um in terms of uh the whole operations of the speakeasy uh well the bill in terms of the
takeout component what's your expectation uh of how orders would be handed to any delivery uh
drivers or and what form of transportation do you expect well in that area we noticed that
there is a lot of bikes that are coming to pick up orders from restaurants and um it's not only
just vehicles the people are traveling in different ways to pick up orders from restaurants
Try to get closer to them, Mike.
Okay, I'm sorry.
All right.
And in terms of supplying employees downstairs when the slider company operations are closed on the first floor, can you just explain how you understand that's going to happen?
So the slider company closes 11 p.m. every day that we're in operation.
The kitchen closes.
It doesn't serve anything upstairs. It doesn't serve anything downstairs. When we originally told them that we weren't going to do speakeasy upstairs, that's just a term so everyone can understand it. We still want to be a seated area upstairs for people to eat and have cocktails.
and so as far as not having or not operating a business with a liquor license we've done that
in our flagship store in Wilmington where we had a liquor license and we have experience using that
okay and you have to go through the whole PLCB process anyway yes okay and um I have no further
questions for Chef Will I would like to address a couple of the comments made um by the how long
so you're gonna you're just gonna take it not not long at all well okay yeah so in terms of there
was there was some indication about accessibility or the lack thereof because of the second floor
not you know having steps uh here are the following bars and restaurants with upstairs and
no elevators and it's throughout the city so i i these are places i've been to so i could just
tell you from experience ashton cigar bar friday saturday sunday vernic food and drink revolution
Ocean House, the Dandelion, Wilder, Mulherin, Saloon, Front Street, Cafe.
So there's numerous here.
Oh, yeah.
So, again, it's not against the law to have a second floor with restaurant establishment
with no accessibility.
Right.
We added seating even on the first floor at the request of the community members to address
And then there was an indication, well, we don't have a loading zone.
And that is out of character for Philadelphia.
And here are some nearby properties that don't, that have a takeout component, but no loading zone, Huda Burger, Walkworks, Shake Shack, Taylor Chip, Hap Sandwich Shop, Cloud Cups, Fishtown, and I'm going to butcher this, Quesa, Barrinquena, which are all have a takeout component and no loading zone.
and in terms of you know we met our burden to show specifically why our use is no worse than
what you would expect of a restaurant establishment their burden now is to be specific to us
the one general you started off by telling us yeah i mean i think you wanted a pretty good
detail in the beginning to tell us that but but the testimony here today the gentleman has
has apparently a grape with the developer not with us so i think i've raised that yeah i did
didn't I say that yeah he said it wasn't him it was the developer that's that's
right and and in terms of there was some discussion about you know the lack of
fire suppression system a sprinkler system that is not going to be the case
in order for us to get a CO with their building code requirements we need to
deal with there was indication about like this is an inadequate party wall
inadequate party wall because this is a residential community which is not the case
because this is a residential community which is not the case this is a CMX
this is a cmx2 property there's many different restaurants along this commercial corridor and
there's nothing specific to our use that's the point okay so all right i'll i'll stop thank you
thank you counsel you have any counsel you have anything okay okay thank you um questions on board
i do just have one question and that is the hours of the speakeasy are the are the sit-down
restaurant with cocktails what are the hours so the speakeasy is wednesday and thursday from four
to uh uh midnight and then friday and saturday from four to one and then sunday from uh four to
ten am i am i missing what's the well like on tuesday okay just want to make sure and what and
what's the what's the capacity of that second floor what's what are you were you assuming the
capacity of how many people 22 chairs at a table and i counted seven stools at the bar what so like
20 25 and then again now 30 30. yeah around 30.
i think it's a little now are you looking to have any are you are well are you looking to have any
dancing music dj no okay no i mean there would be probably a amplify like a system like to play
background music is that correct will it let the record reflect that this you know you know will
stated that that's correct so if there's a proviso you know in terms of no live music
don't worry about the providers let them finish all right yeah i'm just trying to get i'm just
trying to get an understanding of what the what the what the feel of the space will be um
that that's the only question that's it i'm done i have a question just for clarity purpose so so
the first floor and the second floor they are being operated by the same person but they're
two separate businesses two separate type of uh concepts i'll get the concepts but in terms of
operating the the the slider company will operate the mezzanine thing too that is that's correct
and and the intent is to get a liquor license to sell alcohol that is correct for the second floor
that is correct okay okay so my question is if you get a liquor license
you're i'm not i'm not understanding how these hours jive with having a liquor license
in terms of no food where's the where's the food coming from if the first floor business the the
the slider company is shutting down its food operation at 11 o'clock if you have
a liquor license you can stay open till 2 well there's gonna be it can can I can
I just finish okay so how are you gonna have food and drink in this other space
where what what food are we talking about there and you have to serve food with alcohol you can't
just have folks up there drinking so how's that gonna work well so the kitchen closes at 11
so there will be no food served after 11 in in the upstairs operations i you know i don't go out
as much as i used to but i i think that most bars like you know they do stop serving food at a
certain time um so yeah but you're talking like three hours or so i mean like two hours two hours
two hours and not yeah and on thursdays we're open to midnight so that's a one hour
and then on sunday it the kitchen stays open as long as the operations are open at 10 a 10 p.m
so it's two hours friday and saturday where there'll be no food upstairs and and by the way
the kitchen closes at 11 right so that means the last food is served at 11 people are eating you
know beyond 11 and then i would assume and then wednesday and thursday you have an an hour of
between the kitchen closing at 11 till midnight but again i assume people are ordering and the
food when the kitchen closes it closes but the food will be delivered upstairs if you're if
the food will be delivered upstairs if you're if you're closing at 11 you can't have people
if you're closing at 11.
ordering the food at 11 right the kitchen your the kitchen is closing at 11. that means
whatever orders are going to be made it has to be made in time so that the the that food can
be served and what have you and the kitchen can close when i meant my my concern is not about
uh my concern is that if you have a liquor license part of what you have to do is you have to provide
um some kind of food all right along with that um i think that so if if the kitchen is closing
but this speakeasy is still operating with no food but the alcohol how is that going to work
I don't think that you can do it that way all right now yeah but I think that's an LCB issue
I think it's how the liquor control board decides to run it yeah but okay it is an LCB issue but
it's also an issue in terms of you know how is this going to operate if the idea is that there's
going to be 30 people in the space you know wanting to have food and drink
yeah again i'm no liquor licensed attorney all i can tell you is from experience
when I go to establishments, the kitchen is not open until like last call. And we're, you know,