Rivers End restaurant lease best deal?
At the March 12, 2018, City Council meeting the City’s real estate property manager indicated there were plenty of offers to lease the former Rivers End restaurant and those offers were evaluated based on certain criteria that resulted in Bay City, LLC being identified as the best offer. Based on his and a property consultant’s presentation, it did not appear the City Council was aware of any of the other offers or the criteria used in the evaluations.
The property consultant indicated that one selection factor was Bay City’s plans to make approximately $500,000 in improvements. However, the lease with Bay City makes no mention of any improvements, except, of course, for those the City has committed to pay for.
Also, the property consultant indicated the monthly lease rate of $6,700 based on the new 1st Street restaurant being approximately 2,400 sq. feet was comparable to the going rate on Main Street of $3.00 per sq. foot. However, the 2009 Conditional Use Permit for the Rivers End restaurant indicates that the restaurant interior is approximately 868 sq. feet, the covered patio is 522 sq. feet, and the outdoor patio is 1897 sq. feet, for a total lease area of 3,287 sq. feet. A lease for 3,287 sq. feet at $3.00 per sq. foot would be $9,861.00 per month. So in reality, it appears that the approved lease is for approximately $2.04 per sq. foot.
The $6,700 per month lease was presented as a significant increase compared to the approximate $5300 the City recently received from prior restaurant operator. However, that operator was also responsible for cleaning the 1st Street beach restrooms. The new lease shifts that responsibility to the City at a cost to be determined after negotiations with our janitorial contractor. With the cost of cleaning the pier restrooms at over $3800 per month, the City will be lucky if it is able to break even with Bay City lease.
One can only wonder whether Bay City’s offer was the best and why the City would grant a lease at 2/3’s of the amount of a lease on Main Street? We can only hope Bay City provides significant improvements to the restaurant.
Garry Miller
Seal Beach
Supporting the Constitution
We proudly proclaim we are “The Land of the Free” and sincerely believe this. Yet every law passed by the local, state and federal governments take from us another freedom. Earlier this year Speaker of the House Paul Ryan stated the house passed over 300 new laws.
Now I ask you, with all the laws passed since 1787 and already on the books don’t you think we could find one that addresses every possible situation? Through the passing of laws the government continues taking away more of our liberties.
So in response to the writer in the Sun’s Letter to the Editor dated 3/8/18 asking people not to vote for or give money to any US Representative who takes money from a law aiding company that strongly supports one of our Bill of Rights; I will continue to financially support and vote for ANY Representative who fights for the Constitution.
I want the younger generations to have the opportunities I have had. I wish I had the freedoms my parents had. But giving up more and more of our rights will eventually lead us into a government run country, not a country run by “We the People.”
This is called communism and how well did that work for the USSR? Chicago has the most restrictive gun laws in the USA. Is that working out for them? Not so much! Chicago is considered the “Murder Capitol” of the country. So No”….we do not need additional laws. We need common sense in our government and an enforcement of the current laws. We also need to support representatives who will fight for the Constitution.
The Founding Fathers wanted the American people to have the power, not the government. But sadly, many Americans quickly turn over their rights when something goes wrong. One final thing … Regarding returning to the days of rifles: How about returning to the time when there actually was freedom of speech? When people could say what they wanted without fear of the PC police. When colleges actually welcomed diversity and exchange of ideas. When students were not afraid to speak their minds for fear of being ridiculed or getting bad grades? When people got offended by “words” but were ADULT enough to deal with it and not turn into melting snowflakes. How about we return to those days?
Margene Walz
Seal Beach
Editor’s note: The Sun published this letter last week under the title “Supporting Gun Rights” which the author felt misrepresented her positions. We agree. The Sun welcomes all opinions and does not want any reader’s opinion to be misrepresented. We have republished the letter at the reader’s request with a title that better represents the spirit of her thoughts. We appreciate the feedback.
