A correction was made to this post. See below.

You like to give people the benefit of the doubt. And sometimes, they stab you in the back.

That is what Sala Thai has done to Waterfront residents with their recently exposed attempt to obtain an alcohol license as part of their embattled Sala Thai restaurant application (which would be housed in the restored historic Civic Arts Building, directly upslope of a children’s playground). As reported yesterday, “Sala Thai wants to serve alcohol and [City Attorney Mick Cabral says] that the Planning Commission will have to address ‘whether some form of minor or conditional use permit is required.’”

During the July 7, 2008, Planning Commission meeting (which resulted in the denial of the restaurant’s conditional use application), the owners of Sala Thai unequivocally stated that they had no intention of applying for an alcohol license (see video below). I spoke during the meeting and questioned that intention, and later Commissioner (and Chair) Myrna de Vera* asked Planning Manager Dennis Tagashira to advise the Commission as to how to go about never¹ allowing alcohol sales at the restaurant in the future (both shown in the video below).

* I do want to mention that Commissioner Myrna de Vera’s statements during the July 7 meeting — not just the ones in the video, but her entire suite of commentary that evening — were abhorrent and absent-minded of residents’ concerns.

¹ CORRECTION: The original post stated that Commissioner de Vera was asking for advice on allowing alcohol sales at the restaurant. That was incorrect. As shown in the video, Ms. de Vera asks for advice as to NEVER allowing alcohol sales. Unfortunately, I did not hear that the first few times I watched the video, and I apologize for the incorrect information.

Ms. de Vera’s comments as a whole that evening were seen as mostly sympathetic to the Sala Thai restaurant application. As reported in the Contra Costa Times, “Commission Chairwoman Myrna de Vera was sympathetic to arguments that the redevelopment agency’s quest for potential commercial tenants had yielded only a single one, Sala Thai, and that the Civic Arts building’s ‘Public/Quasi-Public-Park’ zoning would allow a restaurant, albeit one that could not serve alcohol. But de Vera ultimately joined her colleagues in a 5-0 vote to deny a use permit.“