Todays Results And An Important Hearing on 6/24

So for those of you who are following up on what exactly is going on, I am still going through all the hurdles of gaining a business license in the City of Azusa.  Paperwork was confirmed to prove that our location would not bring the strip mall to greater than 15% non-retail use space.  This is the good news.  The bad news is that now we are waiting to appear at the next city council meeting that is to be held on 6/24 at 7:00pm.  The only reason this is bad news is because Evo is right around the corner and this sets us back another 2 weeks.  Originally it was scheduled to be 4 weeks from the day, but with a little luck we were able to get penciled in for the next meeting.  The people at City Hall have been extremely helpful and courteous, but they have a very specific protocol that has to be followed so we are just a victim of their excessive thoroughness.  Can't blame them obviously and I am just doing my part to keep things moving along.

Going to cut things very short as I just wanted to put it out there that a public hearing will be taking place and any of you can attend if you like.  This will hopefully be the last step and I can open ASAP once its done.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more updates.  Also, thank you to everyone who spent the time to send out positive tweets to The City of Azusa, as I'm sure this is the first time they have seen that much activity directed towards them.  Good work FGC!

The Long Awaited Day and Some More Info

So there has been a lot of speculation surrounding the reopening of the arcade and last week I announced that there will be a major hurdle we needed to get over.  There will always be people who have nothing to do and try to rip you apart at any opportunity, and with a person like me, that has been very open about everything related to the arcade, this type of thing is expected.  So to set things straight once again, I am going to post some pictures that reinforce everything I have said up until this point.  You might ask why I am going through all this and providing all this info and bringing everything out in the open.  Well, I have been very open from the start, and with the Kickstarter and support of our local scene, this is the best I can do.

First off, let me post the email from the city planner stating that June 4th was the date I was waiting for :

The first part of the email is just to show that is it in fact a letter sent from an official employee of the city of Azusa, and the second email shows his comment about the 4th.

Here is a picture of the cover sheet for my lease :

And another page with the date once again showing when I first started this transaction :

And another sheet showing the deposit and total I paid to get in the place :

For some reason people think it's just that easy to start a new business and there is no way it can take this long.  Well guess what?  It does take this long and just when you think you are finished...... BOOM! another problem and another problem and another problem.  All I can do is keep moving forward and provide the city with everything they request.  Here is a photo of the receipt for 2 business permits I already paid for :

And here is a final photo of the insurance I purchased for the location :

So just to make things 100% clear.  Just from loooking at the pictures and matching up the dates, the lease was signed almost 2 months ago on April 7th.  The business permit was paid in full back on May 5th, and the insurance was taken care of back on May 7th.  I have been ready to get rolling since then just stuck in limbo at this time.  This is not the fault of anyone as paperwork and approvals always take a long time regardless of where you go.  I have done my part and handled everything up until now and here is the news you guys have been waiting for.  So as stated in my previous post, we were waiting on all businesses with a 300ft radius to reply to the notices they were sent.  The good news is that none came back negative but........ and there is always a but......  there is a stipulation in that only 15% of the plaza can be used as "non-retail."  What does this mean?  Well, we will be offering retail in a small section of our unit, but the real issue here is that since there is a new gym opening up next year and it is considered "non-retail" as well, there is a slight problem.  I have already contacted the landlord and the leasing agent as they are both very familiar with all the city officials and from the feedback I have been getting, this should not be a problem and should be resolved by next week.  I am just keeping my fingers crossed, as I have already come this far and there is no turning back!  Another update will be coming real soon so stay tuned.  I am doing all I can and would love nothing more than to have a fully functioning establishment for everyone to attend.  Thanks for reading and talk to you guys again real soon!