An article in the March 13, 2008 issue of The San Diego Weekly Reader Magazine really hits a nerve when you read it.
A Local all ages music venue located in the San Diego /La Mesa area is under attack by the city for alleged noise ordinance violations.
The Unknown Critic has 5 "all volunteer" investigative teams which were all dispatched to investigate these allegations at various times following the Reader article on the venue.
Here is what we found:
After investigating the allegations of violations by the city towards the music venue which is an all ages venue located in San Diego near 70th and El Cajon Boulevard, which is called the "Hot Monkey Love Cafe." We find that these allegations are likely "entirely false accusations". Maybe they just don't like the name, or maybe they don't like teenagers, the reasons are unknown at this time, but our investigation will continue and we will be a presence at the venue in the future to find facts and investigate false allegations.
We are not sure what reason the city may have to try and harass the owner of this venue with false accusations of noise violations and complaints of bringing so called "undesirables" to the area, but we feel that their motive behind it is more than they say it is.
The article printed in the San Diego Weekly Reader states that even before the the venue opened for the first time, two city officials openly complained to a bank manager next door to the venue that the venue would bring undesirables to the area.
We are not sure what this statement "undesirables" means, although we assume they are talking about the teenagers we were able to meet in the last few days during our investigation and the parents we talked to who were dropping off their kids at the venue because they felt it was a good safe environment for their children to be, instead of wandering around possibly getting into trouble.
We saw zero evidence of bad behavior on the part of any of these kids or parents that were there. We found them to be there to just have fun, in a good safe environment.
Security at the venue was also evident.
One lead investigator talked personally to the owner of the venue at length about the allegations against the venue.
Here is that report:
This was my first visit to this venue. I did not call the venue until I had arrived because I wanted to be assured the venue would not try to do anything that would jeopardize my investigation.
I called from my cell phone only after arriving at the venue and left a voice mail message for the owner of the venue stating my purpose, since the call was not answered.
The owner of the venue Alma Felan, could not get to the phone in time to answer it, but heard the message and somehow managed to get downstairs and into the parking asking everyone there if they had just called her. She found me finally as I was just exiting my vehicle.
She invited me to come inside to take a personal guided tour of her venue.
This reviewer who is no stranger to the local music scene in San Diego was very impressed by the venue. It was well organized, extremely clean both on the inside and the outside and well laid out.
She has a room that is set up specifically for band members to eat and chill out prior to playing their sets that night. The stage area is well laid out as well as a large dance floor area.
There is a refreshment area inside the venue serving drinks such as coffees and water, no alcohol is served at the venue.
After the owner of the venue Alma felan had given me a personally guided tour of her venue, she invited me into her office for a chat.
It was quite obvious to this reviewer that this is one truly compassionate and caring lady, in every way, from what she does in her business, to the welfare of the kids in her community and safety of those in her venue.
She spoke about how she started her business and why. She spoke about how she had never asked anyone for a thing and had financed this venue through the sale of her home.
She spoke of helping the kids and keeping them out of trouble by providing a place of entertainment in a safe setting.
This reviewer was literally taken aback by the honest sincerity of this all ages venue owner.
I found the music level inside the venue mild compared to just about any other venue in San Diego County and I am no stranger to music venues.
Outside music levels were extremely tolerable, so much in fact that many of the vehicles that were using the alley behind the venue to get from one street to the other, were making more noise that the music was. Noise levels to the front of the venue were nearly inaudible.
Overall impression of this venue was a 10.
I found this to be a top notch venue for youth entertainment and found all charges against the venue to be groundless, charges possibly initiated by the disgruntled city employees who complained to the bank manager before the venue had even opened for business.
If you have visited this venue before we ask that you write to the mayor of San Diego and ask him to review this situation with this venue personally. It seems as though he may have some public employees that also need to be fired and this problem may need a more hands on approach.
Also we ask you when sending your views to the mayor, please keep it short and to the point and please include a carbon copy (CC) addressed to the venue. Details below:
Email the office of the mayor:
jerrysanders@sandiego.gov
Or snail mail to: City Administration Building
11th floor, 202 C Street
San Diego, Ca. 92101
PHONE: (619) 236 7288
Fax: (619) 2367228
The venues email address to is : hotmonkeylovecafe@yahoo.com
Thats our opinion, whats yours?
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