This morning, the local news carried a story about how a "beloved" pumpkin patch–one of only two in the city–has been closed down because of a permitting dispute. Apparently, neighbors have complained about the size of a shed on the land that serves as the Great Pumpkin Patch’s haunted house. The business owner says that the size of the shed was reduced to comply with permitting rules, but an appeal was filed to revoke her permit.
Here’s the kicker: the appeal hearing is scheduled for December 7th–well after Halloween. Don’t you think that city management could find a way to expedite the hearing to allow a small business to remain operating and give city kids a place to get their pumpkins without having to find a way to the ‘burbs (or just end up buying them in a grocery store, which works but isn’t nearly as much fun or provide parents with a cute fall photo op!)? Is it really that hard?
The owner of the 15-year old business, who plays "Mrs. Pumpkin Head" at the pumpkin patch, says that more than 1,000 school kids are scheduled to come on school field trips this week.
I’m guessing that the media attention might prompt city workers to move up the appeal hearing. But it shouldn’t take public outcry to make that happen. If anyone in city government had any common sense (or cared about making the city business friendly), the hearing would have been expedited immediately after the appeal was filed.
One final note: you have to love Bay Area media. They never miss a chance to make the police the bad guys. Of course, the police had to come shut the pumpkin patch down, on orders by city bureaucrats. The local radio station, instead of describing this as the "NIMBY" story it is (or pointing out the lousy customer service the city gives it business owners), led their news story by calling the police "Halloween grinches."