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Home My WebLink AboutItem 3CFrom:Flinn Fagg To:City Clerk Cc:Brenda Pree; Scott Stiles Subject:FW: Blackbook Parklet Date:Tuesday, September 26, 2023 7:57:40 AM Attachments:PS Animal Shelter - Parklet.pdf Brothers of the Desert - Parklet.docx Please forward the email below with the attachments to the City Council and include in the public record. From: Dean Lavine <dean@blackbookbar.com> Sent: Monday, September 25, 2023 7:48 PM To: Scott Stiles <Scott.Stiles@palmspringsca.gov>; Flinn Fagg <Flinn.Fagg@palmspringsca.gov> Subject: Blackbook Parklet NOTICE: This message originated outside of The City of Palm Springs -- DO NOT CLICK on links or open attachments unless you are sure the content is safe. Honorable Mayor and Council Members (BCC), You recently received a letter from myself and other stakeholders asking for an extension for parklets in the city. This letter is slightly different than the previous one as this is specific to Blackbook. I was thinking about what the parklet brings to the community and especially the Arenas District. As most of you are aware, we refer to Blackbook as an 'inclusion' bar. We are a place where anyone can go to feel welcome and free to be themselves. It has enabled us to create an outdoor community center. Since we built the parklet, we have hosted a DBA Mixer, a Chamber of Commerce Mixer, an extremely successful pet adoption for the Animal Shelter, Pride events, Brothers of the Desert lunches and meet and greets, Bartenders Weekend events, and the kickoff party for IBC weekend. We could not accommodate these groups/events without the parklet. It has helped our community stay connected. It has helped us stay connected. Most importantly we are blessed to have the support of our community partners. We can't express enough gratitude for this. In fact some of our friends were kind enough to offer letters of support. I have attached them to this email. I appreciate your taking the time to consider this. Thank you. Dean Lavine 09/26/2023 Public Comment Item 3C 09/26/2023 Public Comment Item 3C September 25, 2023 Palm Springs City Council 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way Palm Springs, California 92262 Brothers of the Desert 333 North Sunrise Way #1314 Palm Springs, California 92262 Honorable Mayor and Council Members, This email is to extend support for the con�nua�on of parklets in Palm Springs. Our experience with the parklet at Blackbook has been a very engaging experience. Since the addi�on of the parklet, we have been able to host several events in the Arenas District. • MLK Day Celebra�on • Members Brunch/Lunch • Black History Month • Wellness Sumit Brunch • Meet/Greet the Black’s Blackbook has hosted Brothers of the Desert for Meet and Greets with the Chief of Police and his department, in addi�on to lunches a�er our brother’s community events. Prior to that, we were unable to support our Arenas District as a group with a full meal at Arenas in a comfortable environment. As an organiza�on, where it's important to us to have a safe and inclusive space, Blackbook provides that in the Arenas District. We urge the city council to allow Blackbook to keep this parklet and community space. Respec�ully, Eric Davis, Brothers of the Desert, Vice President 09/26/2023 Public Comment Item 3C From:Flinn Fagg To:City Clerk Cc:Brenda Pree Subject:FW: Parklet Discussion - 9/26/23 City Council Meeting Date:Tuesday, September 26, 2023 8:43:30 AM Please forward to councilmembers for Agenda Item 3C. From: Dean Lavine <dean@blackbookbar.com> Sent: Monday, September 25, 2023 11:20 PM To: Flinn Fagg <Flinn.Fagg@palmspringsca.gov> Cc: Dean Lavine <deanlavine@gmail.com>; Liz Ostoich <liz@farmpalmsprings.com>; Elizabeth Ostoich <lizostoich@yahoo.com>; Patrick Service <pservice@lascasuelas.com> Subject: Re: Parklet Discussion - 9/26/23 City Council Meeting NOTICE: This message originated outside of The City of Palm Springs -- DO NOT CLICK on links or open attachments unless you are sure the content is safe. I did a little research this weekend. From what I can glean, the control when it comes to parklets, lies with municipalities. Which is why I believe many cities are moving forward with making them permanent (I'm not positive but it's what I am inferring). I'm including articles that attribute this (some cities: Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, West Hollywood, and Palo Alto). https://labusinessjournal.com/special-reports/dining-2/ https://www.independent.com/2023/06/28/santa-barbara-will-keep-its-downtown-parklet-experiment-going-for-now/?amp=1 https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/healdsburg-to-consider-oking-permanent-outdoor-alcohol-consumption-at-parkl/ https://smdp.com/2022/10/15/business-friendly-zoning-changes-are-here-to-stay/ https://wehoville.com/2023/02/07/city-council-makes-outzones-permanent/ https://beverlypress.com/2023/02/outdoor-dining-becomes-permanent-in-weho/ As for Blackbook, the pandemic changed our business model - this was not by choice. We went from one way to generate revenue to another. We believe the genie is out of the bottle and can't go back to the same style model (the public generally perceives us solely as a restaurant instead of a bar). This is due to how we had to operate to navigate the pandemic. Because of this, we are unlike the other operators. We now generate about 35% of our revenue from the parklet. It would be more, but we hardly generate revenue in the parklet in July and August. If the parklet were to go away, we would have to cut 35% of our staff. A good profit margin for a restaurant like ours is about 10% (as seen in the graph below). It's not too hard to see that change can be a very volatile thing in our industry. Average Restaurant Profit Margin So, what’s the average restaurant profit margin? Use these figures as benchmarks against which to 09/26/2023 Public Comment Item 3C measure the financial health of your business. Average Restaurant Profit Margins (net) Full-service restaurant 3-5%* Quick-service restaurant 6-9%* Bar 10-15%** Catering 7-8%* Food truck 6-9%*** https://sevenrooms.com/en/blog/restaurant-profit-margins/ Lastly, what we plan for the future:In addition to safety upgrades, the next $30k to $40K invested would be for beautification and function. We would add permanent lighting, replace or repaint the exterior structure, add landscaping, replace a broken umbrella, replace the misting system with metal to make it more permanent (with a better aesthetic). I hope this helps. Dean 09/26/2023 Public Comment Item 3C