What happens when a neighborhood business starts alienating the very neighbors it depends on to survive?
Bolo Bistro is finding out. Life can get rough.
Residents of the Prestwick Village near downtown are trying to drive Larry Lafferty and his bistro right out of the neighborhood, which is part of a mixed-use development in the urban renewal area around the old Lowell neighborhood.
They say they like mixed-use zoning, which brings together retail, commercial and residential land uses. The like the idea of walking to work, or the neighborhood deli or pub.
The problem, neighbors say, is Lafferty’s use of the Bistro to host loud, late-night karaoke events and parties.
Here is a look at the neighborhood.
Here is a look at the Bolo Bistro from FlashEarth.com:
The Bolo Bistro occupies the corner space on the first floor of the building in the photo below, directly under the pyramid roofed tower. The top floor of the building is an unsold penthouse. To the right, the lower, red-brick three story building is the start of the Prestwick Townhomes.
Below is a photo of the neighborhood facing west. On a clear day, Pikes Peak is visible. On the left is the building housing the Bolo Bistro. On the right is the Westwood Townhomes, where residents object to the noise of the Bistro’s late-night parties and karaoke events.
==================================
They are living in a mixed use area where commercial and residential are both present. This in itself pretty much guarantees that things will be louder than in the sea of houses on the cities eastside. On the other hand people living in mixed use areas don’t have to drive five miles to get to the nearest store.