There’s no way they should be able to have amplified music OUTSIDE…only INSDIDE, as they don’t control their DJ’s or LIVE bands for the neighborhood.

For 30 years it’s been a “RESTAURANT” (eating establishment), NOT a dance club, and NOT a wild wedding party place, and certainly NOT a bar that’s open until 2 a.m. City Revenue or not, we pay our taxes too, and we have ALL paid ALOT of money for our homes to live here. It’s not like we can just move. Myself, the IRS would take approximately $300,000.00 from me if I sold my home, and I can’t afford to give $300,000 away, and still afford to buy another house, as there’s no buying like-for-like anymore thanks to Clinton.

My feeling is shape-up or ship-out. If they shape-up then awesome. However, what I heard as recently as July 26th, that’s NOT shaping up, or making changes.

So yes Brian, I think your idea is a good one and I would be delighted to see them implement it.

And Brad, its true they’ve invested a lot of money that would be lost if they were required to shut down. That would be a fact for any business. But they’ve said on record on more than one occasion that they’d shut down and move out if the city determined they couldn’t be good neighbors. If they’re not wanted, they’ll leave. My hope is that we give them enough time and have some patience while they work to satisfy these concerns. I’m worried the neighbors want them out now and the people in charge of making the decision are hot to get them out. I hope I’m wrong.

We had a lot of trouble with them at first when trying to get video surveillance of their patrons the night of the hit and run on our car. From what I understand this happened due to bad legal advice and poor communication between the executive team. Once everyone was on the same page Glen Gerson apologized for the accident that was with almost 99% certainty caused by one of his patrons, closed off traffic from his club into our neighborhood, and also paid for the damages to our car. We were impressed by this swift action and got the impression they actually care what the community thinks about them.

Make no mistake though that they are making a lot of money from the club, and that they have invested a ton of money that would be lost if they were forced to shutdown or couldn’t expand. There are numerous problems that still exist due to the nightclub being in Simi Valley. The most dangerous of these problems is that about 20% of the DUIs are from Candlelight patrons. Each one of those drunk drivers is a deadly weapon on our streets. The noise is also an issue for the houses and apartments right near the restaurant. I’m confident that Glen and his son will solve these problems, but we can’t let them off the hook until these problems are solved. There are fewer and fewer businesses out there that actually care about their customers let alone the community so it’s nice to see that Candlelight is one. Let’s hope that they figure out a solution that allows them to keep making money and employing Simi Valley citizens, but one that also satisfies their neighbors.

A major problem is that customers park in residential neighborhoods. Would you support a fix to this problem by not allowing customers to park in the neighborhoods? It would be easy to have a guard at the end of the driveway stopping people from walking in, unless they parked in the parking lot on the property or the parking lot they rent from Simi Valley High School.

Why expand the business until this really easy solution is implemented?

Sure, the business pays taxes and employs people, and in this economy that is very helpful. But the people currently providing parking in front of their homes and having to pick up bottles, repair their property, and deal with people hanging out in their front yards pay property taxes too.

Will you sign on and ask council members and the business for this easy fix?