Old Soul, proving once again that it pays to keep politicians in ones pockets. I wonder how many people they had to call to get this taken care of; more or less than it took to get the $100k for the alley? More or less than it took to not get fined for running an illegal cafe?

Like Marion mentioned, the added insult to all of this is that Old Soul seems to be on a law breaking spree and rather than the city cracking down on them, they award them with $100,000? I vaguely remember one of the owners even being quoted in the press as liking to work outside the law! From what I've read in the news, their alley location wasn't zoned for a food establishment but they got away with it; it wasn't zoned for a retail cafe, but they got away with it; there wasn't enough parking, but they got away with it. And their Weatherstone location is no different; Health and Labor Code violations, remodeling without proper permits, etc. And despite all this they're more or less being handed $100,000 by the city in addition to getting help opening a new location? I guess the moral of the story is that it pays to be in bed with the press; drum up whatever story you want and they'll print it for you.

Yeah, and if the city does want to spend money on stuff like this, why spend the money on a business which operates in violation of many laws and regulations; how about spend the money on an upstanding business that's struggling to get by?

Given the fact that the only business in this alley is Old Soul, it seems safe to say that the taxpayers are basically handing over $100,000 to Old Soul so that they can make their business more attractive. With all the problems this city is facing, why throw money away on one business?

"Monthly volunteer projects"? According to their website, they haven't done anything since April