Bloor West residents protest motorbike shop’s liquor license software
prevent a neighborhood coffee store catering to cyclists from receiving a liquor license.
Fix Coffee + Bikes opened two years ago on Gladstone Avenue in the previous vicinity of a Portuguese grocery keep, and because then has carved out a unique area of interest as a unique coffee bar and cycle repair save. Owned by Fred Sztabinski, the distance also hosts regular art exhibitions stimulated through biking and network events.
But citizens like Bill Ikos say granting the commercial enterprise a liquor license will now not handiest mean more celebrated outsiders in the neighborhood; it may set a “dangerous precedent”, encouraging other bars to install operations inside the place, ensuing in “alcohol insanity.”
“Once you permit one established order a liquor license, you don’t understand what’s occurring subsequent,” stated Ikos, whose family has lived on Gladstone for over four years. “We want to convey the message that Little Portugal has been quiet for years, and those who stay right here, a lot of them seniors, are scared of the future (if a liquor license is granted).”
Ikos and fellow neighbors and longtime neighborhood residents like him launched a petition against Fix Coffee + Bikes. This week, a public assembly was also prepared using local councilor Ana Bailao at Alexander Muir Public School to discuss the problem.
For his part, Sztabinski says he’s bewildered by the competition for the liquor license, which he says he decided to pursue after listening to clients who preferred the idea of enjoying a glass of wine or craft beer at the shop following a protracted day’s trip.
After listening to that, Sztabinski said he applied for a provincial license to sell alcohol within the 30-seat status quo until nine p.M. While the café closes. He stated he went door-to-door and distributed a letter detailing his plans. Having faced little community outcry in the beyond, Sztabinski figured there wouldn’t be any essential competition.
“I concept (the application) would boost a few eyebrows. However, I didn’t count on this reaction,” he said.
Another nearby resident Nancy Ennis attended the meeting unsure about the liquor license but was reassured in her dealings with Sztabinski, who she defined as an “adorable man.”
Ennis, 70, said in an electronic mail that she’s now firmly in favor of the café receiving a license.
“I changed into amazed at the hostility, rudeness, and fashionable vituperativeness of maximum of the participants,” said Ennis. “It changed into then I became precise approximately helping Fred, as is my partner.”
Bailao stated the town has formally adversarial the application to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, something it does for any liquor utility as a dependent on the route so it can “impose conditions.”
“Certainly, the priority of liquor being served at the premises is something many citizens percentage,” said Bailao following the meeting. “Many people say they experience the status quo, but as soon as you have a liquor license granted, you don’t recognize what’s happening subsequently.”
But Bailao stopped quickly condemning the application, hoping both aspects could compromise with the metropolis’s help.
“I assume our first strive has to be bringing human beings collectively,” she stated.
While Ikos became admiring of Sztabinski’s fulfillment in setting up Fix, he is adamant that selling alcohol, despite burdensome regulations, could have long-term effects on the neighborhood.
“It’s small steps; however, if they get the license now, there’s nothing to forestall him or someone else from beginning a (full-fledged) bar.”