I’d like to express a few concerns over an issue brewing in the Eastside neighborhood and that is over the Boiler Room’s request for the right to serve beer and wine.
The Eastside is an established neighborhood with families and children. Serving alcohol makes our neighborhood less safe for children and as the father of two young children I want things safer. I do not want increased traffic with a greater number of drivers under the influence of beer and wine. The Boiler Room is across the street from a playground for crying out loud and kitty corner from Hedges Elementary School. Is this really a precedent we want to set?
There are plenty of more appropriate places to serve alcohol. I mean the streets aren’t even wide enough to accommodate two cars passing if there are cars parked on either side of the street, and there often are. The parking lot at the Boiler Room is difficult enough to manage sober right now.
I say we all buy more of the Boiler Room’s great coffee and sandwiches. It’s just not appropriate to serve alcohol across from a playground and to bring additional drivers that are under the influence of alcohol into our neighborhood. I don’t want our neighborhood on the nightlife circuit.
Nobody likes to say “No” and be the bad guy but this is an issue we really need to put the brakes on before someone has to slam on the brakes to avoid a kid chasing an errant ball from the playground.
Gregory Ennis
Kalispell