The Folsom City Council passed an amended resolution Tuesday night, establishing the hours that the Historic District bars can offer live entertainment.
Before the Council voted, several business owners, including the owners of the Folsom Hotel, Powerhouse Pub and Snooks Candies spoke, asking that the resolution be changed, allowing live entertainment to go on until midnight on Wednesdays, rather than 11pm as proposed.
One owner said they would actually voluntarily close earlier than the law allows, and even offer a shuttle to the under-used parking structure to keep people from parking in the residential areas.
The owner of the Folsom Hotel said that the Wednesday night blues jam is very popular and the extra hour was important to his business.
Councilmen Miklos and Morin reminded the business owners that Folsom is a business-friendly town, but that the problems such as noise, parking (and peeing) in front of residences, drugs, fights and more have been well-known and complained about for over 20 years and the business owners had done nothing to prevent them, and that it was the business owners who put the Council in the position having to come down on them in the first place.
Several residents spoke, with one complaining that the entertainment restrictions don’t address the parking situation, and another decrying the label ‘Entertainment District’, when it is a residential neighborhood.
Councilman Miklos said that this was the first part of many addressing neighbor concerns, but that this was the first step.
In the end, the Council voted, and the new live entertainment hours will be limited to 8am to 10pm Sunday through Tuesday, 8am to midnight on Wednesdays, and 8am to 1am, Thursday through Saturday.
The next steps are for the City to create the application packages and have the interested parties apply for Entertainment permits.
The situation will be monitored, and it could come before the Council again.
What do you think? Too much? Not enough? Don’t care?
Give us your opinion here: www.tomatopages.com/folsomforum/index.php?showtopic=39933&page=1&#entry467922