Revive the Berryessa Community

We are current members of your district and are writing to you with great concern on the establishments that are opening up in our neighborhood.

There seems to be several Vietnamese "restaurants" in our area that truly should not be called a restaurant. These establishments are open late at night and their main target is serving beers late at night. It might as well be considered a bar sans the hard liquor. The only food they serve at night are appetizer dishes that go along with the alcohol. The women working at these establishments are dressed provocatively and the whole scene resembles the Vietnamese coffee shops you see all around East San Jose.

There are 3 of these restaurants located on King and Berryessa, 2 on Mckee and Capitol, 1 on Berryessa and Capitol, and another that is about to open right next door to Safeway! It's like having 7 "bars" located in our neighborhood. Do we need so many of these establishments in a 2-3 mile radius?

I value our neighborhood. I would like to be able to go to the grocery store by myself or with my children and feel safe about it. I would like to feel comfortable and not have to see people loitering outside smoking cigarettes, or wonder if I'm going to be in a cross-fire of a shooting or a fight because I got home late from work one night and it was my only chance to pick up dinner. A neighbor of mine sometimes make late night runs to get fast-food at Burger King on Capitol and Mckee and she’s seen patrons of this establishment fighting in the parking lot. There was also this one time she parked her car in the parking lot of the one on Berryessa and King because there was no parking at the Starbucks. There was a shooting at the "restaurant" and her car was blocked in as a crime scene. Enough is enough don't you think, Councilman Chu? I think so. We do not need another establishments with the name like “Sao Dem” which translates to “After Dark” in Vietnamese.

It's bad enough our home values have gone down in our area, but we do not need to bring down the morality of our neighborhood either. Please do not let these establishments make their way into our neighborhood. I believe and I'm sure you do too, in having a positive and safe community atmosphere.