1. I became a good customer of VPC starting the week it opened in 2007, and loved what Ericka and Heather were doing with the food (and especially the Luscious Lemon Loaf). The owners seemed neighborhood-oriented, having a pumpkin-carving party before they opened, and later treating regular customers nicely. So, my family embraced VPC as a neighbor, not just a business. We lent Heather and Ericka baby clothes; I brought over a WiFi router when theirs failed. And, we didn’t make a big fuss every time their trash bins overflowed, or deliveries dangerously blocked part of the street, or late-night customer/staff noise disturbed us, etc.

2. Then, without any meaningful outreach to neighbors, the owners in spring of this year started building a patio that seemed capable of doubling, to roughly 70, the seats inside and outside the restaurant. Ericka told a food writer that an outdoor barrel barbecue would be part of the patio plan. The neighbors were left to guess whether we’d be hit with 7-day a week outdoor dining and drinking, until who-knows-what-time at night. Some of us also began to wonder why we were tolerating existing impacts — like the rodents VPC attracted with those overflowing trash bins.

3. With Ericka and Heather declining to have meaningful conversation about their plans, the neighbors turned to the City of Seattle for help. We felt that the building, built as a small grocery in 1905, should not be allowed to become a 70-seat destination restaurant, with seemingly no limits on hours or capacity, and an impact exacerbated by the owners’ unresponsiveness. Even after the City became involved, it took months for VPC to start discussing the problems it was causing. Neighbors have observed little improvement in cafe operations, so far.

4. So, what can you do if you like the food and ambiance at VPC, and also want to respect the neighbors’ right to live in the quiet, residential area that they moved into long before the VPC opened? You can tell the city you support a small restaurant with seating inside the building, since that space is more than adequate for a thriving business. You can say you agree that some limits should be set to keep the traffic, noise, etc., at a level in scale with the location. Above all, think about what you’d want if you chose to live in a purely residential neighborhood, with little kids who go to bed by 8 p.m

5. Don’t tell this only to the city. Tell it to Ericka and Heather, who have the power to restore neighborly relations.

6. Drop a note to volparkneighbors@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Thanks.

Congrats on this blog and your new venture!