Ped Mall Prevarication

As you may or may not be aware, Jim Mondanaro, owner of such restaurants as Givanni's, Mondo's, Bread Garden, Joseph's and the newly-opened Saloon (among others), has petitioned the Iowa City Council to allow him to essentially replace one of the planters down in the Ped Mall with a seating area for the Saloon. You can get all of the details here, here and here. I just thought I would provide a few pictures of the area in question for those of you unfamiliar with the location.

Here you can see the planter in question, with The Saloon in the background:




And here you can see one of Mondanaro's other restaurants, Givanni's, directly opposite The Saloon:



As you can see, the two areas possess their own unique atmosphere. The former is a public green space (albeit more actual plants would be nice), available for anyone to enjoy, free of charge. The latter space no longer functions as a public area. And, when the restaurant is closed, in essence serves as a storage area (or, more accurately, pile) for patio furniture.

As a resident of Iowa City and frequent patron of the Ped Mall, the precedent this would set really bothers me. As myself and others have argued, the Pedestrian Mall, essentially the main public forum for residents of Iowa City, is an area where we can all sit and enjoy ourselves, free of charge. The issue isn't about what percentage of sales from the Saloon come from alcohol vs. food, or how nice the area might look (as Mondanaro has suggested). The issue is about losing part of this public "forum", the heart of Iowa City, to the private business interests of one man.

If you care to voice your opinion on this issue, please come to the Downtown Association Public Form at 3:30-5:30 on Wednesday, August 1st. The meeting will be held at the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce, 325 E. Washington St. (across from The Picador).

cubicycle

top o' the mornin' to ya, Schwixxy. stopped off at the Co-op for coffee i see. what's that, you haven't had your coffee yet? i'll make sure to keep my voice down then. looking forward to another action-packed day here in the ol' cubicle i trust? heh, yeah, tuesdays suck.

more blurry concert photos

here's a pic from the Derek Trucks Band playing Jazz Fest a few weeks back. it was really jamtastic and smelled heavily of patchouli.



this pic is from Saturday night at the Picador. Owen, from Casiotone For the Painfully Alone, is playing us another sad song here (Toby, Take a Bow i think). this was the second time i've seen him play. if you aren't familiar with his music, you can give a listen here. a little background info here.