Item: Businesses must police sidewalks: Language, dress code must be enforced in outside seating areas/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press

More Info: The City Council approved the changes 4 votes to 2 votes, with councilmembers Dan Gookin and Steve Adams voting against the measure. Adams called the changes heavy-handed and premature, since the downtown bar dance club Icon, which accounted for some of the police calls, was sold this year. He said the changes shouldn't be implemented until after the city has time to study statistics from this summer, while Gookin said the city shouldn't police what language people use. “The government does not have the power to regulate what people say,” he said.

Question: Who's right on this matter — the 4-2 majority? Or Adams (who said the changes were heavy-handed and premature) and Gookin (who said police shouldn't regulate language people use)?

The city of Coeur d'Alene wants to add some rules to its outdoor food and alcohol serving policy to help clean up behavior around bars and restaurants with seating on public sidewalks. The changes would clarify expectations for businesses that serve outdoors thanks to the city's food and alcohol outdoor service policy, which has been changed several times the last three years. “It's a balancing act,” said Mike Kennedy, councilman, on attempting to clean up late-night behavior outside establishments that serve alcohol, versus coming down too heavy handed on businesses. “And it's not an easy one.” The proposed additions would require businesses that have the outdoor permits to play a more active role in policing unacceptable behavior in their own designated areas/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (SR file photo of a mother & her son dining outside the Beacon)

Question: Do you enjoy dining or drinking outside restaurants or bars in downtown Coeur d'Alene?

The owners of The Wine Cellar, a staple of the downtown scene for over 20 years, are thrilled to announce that the restaurant will be moving street side this summer. Tom & Patricia Power have acquired the building located at 317 Sherman Avenue, directly next door to the Wine Cellar and will be relocating the restaurant to that space.  The Wine Cellar restaurant in its current location will remain open for business during this transition.  The building at 317 Sherman has been a number of businesses over the years, from a department store, furniture store, The Brix restaurant in 2003 and most recently the Icon nightclub/News Release. More here. (Photo from Wine Cellar Web page)

Question: Are you a fan of the Wine Cellar?

OrangeTV: “Icon is closed forever after last weekend, so that is no longer an ongoing concern. It was purchased by the Wine Cellar and is being turned back into a fine dining establishment. The Beacon is as described in the article, terrible customer service and outrageous prices. Splash, I’ve never been but I’ve never once heard anything nice about the place. As for my favorite downtown bar, well…I have kind of a bias on that one…”

DFO: Thanks, OTV, I didn't know that about Icon. Judging from the Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report, Icon won't be missed by the Coeur d'Alene Police Department.

Question: Which other downtown Coeur d'Alene bar would you like to see close?

• The article below is the 3rd in a 3-part series on a December 2009 shooting that involved Coeur d'Alene businessman Adam Johnson. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

For Adam Johnson, life is being rebuilt piece by piece. Two years is a blink of an eye, the 27-year-old says, but each day he's putting one piece on top of another. “My eyes have definitely been opened,” said Johnson, sitting at a coffee shop recently in Coeur d'Alene. “Before I was young, successful, running a business. You kind of get some blinders on.” Even after attempted murder and aggravated battery charges were dropped against him in January 2010 after a sealed grand jury found the shooting was in self defense, Johnson had questions of his own. If the shooting was ruled self defense, where were new charges against the aggressors? He was beaten so badly that around one year after the incident, doctors discovered he had several broken C7 and T1 vertebrae in his neck. And there were reports - which the Moses Lake visitors deny — that the visitors were kicked out of the Torch Lounge moments before the encounter/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: Do you think downtown Coeur d'Alene has gotten safer since the December 2009 shooting?

CollingwoodCDA: The Moose, Beacon, Moon Time and Eagles are legit, though, not that they’re immune from idiots getting out of line. The Icon is such a dive and is almost solely responsible for the ever-growing stigma of downtown CDA and drama that goes down (nothing good happens after midnight, right?). I love the downtown CDA scene, but The Icon is ghetto fabulous but still not as bad as the artist formerly known as The Torch.

Question: Which night spot in downtown Coeur d'Alene do you avoid?

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department’s CARE Division (Community Accident Reduction through Education and Enforcement) followed up a hit and run accident that occurred on December 11th at approximately 1:00am at 2nd St. and Lakeside Ave. Victim Jessica White was struck by a maroon Toyota pickup and left lying in the roadway. Jessica sustained a broken back and was hospitalized at KMC. Officer Nick Knoll received information during the course of the investigation that led to a suspect by the name of Thomas James Lang, 21, of Post Falls. Suspect Lang is friends with the Jessica White. Jessica and several of her friends in common with Lang knew who struck her with the vehicle and failed to tell the police who was responsible/Sgt. Christie Wood, Coeur d'Alene police. More here.

Downtown Coeur d'Alene was full of combative and unconscious drunks — and a public urinator or two — from Oct. 1-23, according to the latest Coeur d'Alene Police Department Bar Report. But the favorite of HucksOnline was this one, from 1:37 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 23: “Female customer was upset and confronting and hitting an employee at the counter of the San Francisco Sourdough. Other activities included opening bags of chips and dumping them on the floor, hitting a manager, licking an employee’s hand and entering a storage closet thinking it was the bathroom. Eventually she escaped out the back door (leaving her name information from her credit card) and entered the Moose.” Complete Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar report here.

Question: Did you find a better candidate for best bar report entry by following the link? Which incident was more or equally noteworthy?

Dunno which Downtown Coeur d'Alene drunk from September amuses me more — The man who was walking south in the crosswalk @ 4th & Sherman with his butt exposed (to moon friends who were behind him)? Or the 25YO woman in a pink blouse, carrying a zebra-striped purse who spit in a bouncer's face at the Beacon after she was denied entry into the bar and had flipped the bouncer off. According to the latest Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report, the bouncer may have inadvertently triggered the incident by joking about the woman's pink blouse and bouncing her from the bar because he recognized her as a friend of a friend. The woman later changed her blouse from pink to black (because she didn't want people looking for the girl with the pink shire and zebra-striped purse. The bounced woman said she was trying to spit on the Beacon window rather than the bouncer. You can read the downtown bar report here.

Question: Which drunk do you consider most amusing above?

It sounds like Downtown Coeur d'Alene was a war zone between Sept 7-29, with Coeur d'Alene police responding to one fight after another. Examples:

• Saturday, Sept 17: 0032 hours: 201 N 2nd St - #CD1492604 – Fight – Eight people fighting near CDA Press and fight was escalating.
• Saturday, Sept. 17: 0105 hours: 317 E Sherman Ave - #CD1492609 – Fight – Physical fighting involving over ten people in front of the Beacon.
• Sunday, Sept. 18: 0210 hours: N 2nd St & E Sherman Ave - #CD1492900 – Fight – Eight subjects in the middle of the road fighting. Warned.
• Sunday, Sept. 18: 0210 hours: N 2nd St & E Sherman Ave - #CD1492900 – Fight – Eight subjects in the middle of the road fighting. Warned.
• Wednesday, Sept. 21: 2342 hours: 216 E Sherman Ave - #CD1494074 – Fight – Fight in street in front of Rendezvous involving four to five males. No Report.
  Thursday, Sept 22: 0033 hours: 216 E Sherman Ave - #CD1494078 – Fight – Fight involving 10 people in front of Rendezvous.
• Many more fights & escapades of the vomiting/peeing downtown drunks here

On her Idaho Scenic Images Facebook wall, Linda Lantzy provides this streetscape of Sherman Avenue in downtown Coeur d'Alene from Wednesday night. See Linda's Facebook wall & photos here.

Kootenai Environmental Alliance board members Janet and Wes set up their “park(ing) day” spot in front of Art  Spirit Gallery on Sherman Avenue. KEA photo: Janet Torline and Wes Hanson at Art Spirit Gallery (above) and KEA staffer Adrienne Cronebaugh (inset below). More KEA photos here.

(Today) you will see parking spots in downtown Coeur d’Alene transformed into temporary public open space… one parking spot at a time. PARK(ing) Day is a annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. So again this year, with the generous good humor of the City of Coeur d’Alene, KEA will be participating in the annual global Park(ing) Day event calling for a reclamation of parking places for the benefit of people and parks.  We will reclaim a few downtown spaces on Friday to make our point. Admittedly, downtown Coeur d’Alene is probably the most walkable and appealing destination in our entire region. But it’s not because of parking.  In fact, much of the plan for renovating McEuen Park is motivated by removing a dreadful mistake of a parking lot from what is an extraordinary lakeside location. Full news release here.

Question: KEA brings up an excellent point today. One of the worst mistakes ever made by city of Coeur d'Alene forefathers and foremothers was constructing a five-acre parking lot on the lip of McEuen Field. I'd like opponents of McEuen Field changes discuss what they would like to see done with the 3rd Street parking lot.

On his Facebook wall, OrangeTV writes of a regular at Mic-'n-Mac's who pulls a cart around town full of glossy photos of dead rockers, which he sells to the tourists. OTV was surprised that the wandering entrepreneur already had a photo of Amy Winehouse, who died July 23. OTV was impressed with the quality of the Winehouse photo but passed on purchasing it when he couldn't talk the seller down from $10. (AP file photo)

Question (from OTV): Is the salesman displaying keen business instincts in adding Winehouse to his wares already — or guilty of a tacky cash-in? What do you think?

Tweeter McWriters writes to Huckleberries: After enjoying a great lunch with three of my children and their grandmother at Cafe Carambolo (Wednesday afternoon), we decided to head downtown to get cupcakes from Sweet B's Cupcakes (on 5th Street, just north of Sherman). As we drove down 5th Street, the street was closed off due to folks setting up for the Farmer's Market. So, in lieu of turning around and parking over a block away, we decided to pull in the parking lot right next to Sweet B's, run in and select our 6 cupcakes. We parked at right around 2:10pm. When we came back out to my truck (at 2:26pm - I looked at the clock intentionally after retrieving the violation from my windshield) a parking violation had been issued at 2:16pm in the amount of $20.00 due to “no advanced payment” from Diamond Parking Services. More from McWriters below.

Question: Should McWriters have received a parking ticket?

Artist Rick Davis left the following comment on the Dogwalk Musings blog re: why he designed the controversial Ganesha public art work that will be on display in downtown Coeur d'Alene for the next year: “The reason I originally chose to do this piece was at the suggestion of my Yoga teacher.  But as the project progressed, and I did more research into Ganesha, the themes that surround him seemed to be unfolding in my life.  So he became a 3 1/2 year teaching/learning moment for me.” Adds Dogwalk Musings: “Art, no matter what form it takes,  is probably the most subjective commodity in the world.  We either like what we see or we don't.  As with this month's Art Walk.  What shouldn't be forgotten, however, in viewing the finished product, there is a process behind it.  As Mr. Davis points out, his piece became a teaching/learning moment.  Certainly nothing sinister nor intended to offend.” More here. (SR file photo/Kathy Plonka, of Ganesha)

Question: Do you support public art? Or do you consider it to be a waste of money?

Looks like Pepper Smock has launched his Seasons of Coeur d'Alene Fresh Grill & Bar in the old T.W. Fisher's building (209 Lakeside, across from the Coeur d'Alene Press. In a news release, general manager Nancy White reports that Seasons opened “in time for 4th of July revelers to explore the casually sophisticated dining room, bar, and patio.” The chef is Scott Miller, who will focus on traditional specialties like Peppered Bistro Steak, Kobe Pub Burger, and Short Rib Pasta, as well as seasonal fare. Dining room seats & open bar each seats 100. Restaurant is open daily for lunch, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; dinner from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.; bar menu till 11 p.m.; and bar until midnight. Full news release here.

Question: Do you plan to try out Seasons soon?

“Ganesha,” a sculpture by artist Rick Davis, was picketed last month by the Kootenai County Constitution Party when it was dedicated as part of a public art display in downtown Coeur d'Alene. Pickets said the sculpture represents a Hindu god and shouldn't be permitted in the Lake City. Now, a Coeur d'Alene man, backed by a church, is gathering signatures on petitions to seek the display's removal. Full story here. (SR file photo: Kathy Plonka)

Ronald J. Vander Griend is soliciting help from other churches besides Lake City Lighthouse Church, which has already pledged its support, in Vander Griend's attempt to remove the public art piece on grounds that it's offensive. In his interpretation, the symbol of Ganesha is too similar to the swastika, the elephant's trunk depicts a phallic symbol, and the weapons in the statue's hands represent tools used to put fear in Hindu followers to the “gods who control their lives,” according to the petition/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: Will Ronald Vander Griend succeed in his drive to remove Ganesha from downtown Coeur d'Alene?

The Kootenai County Constitution Party plans to protest the dedication Friday of the city of Coeur d'Alene's art-on-loan program as a result of the inclusion of a “Hindu demon, Ganesh, statue” now displayed on Sherman Avenue in downtown Coeur d'Alene. Mayor Sandi Bloem will oversee the dedication, which is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. during the monthly ArtWalk program. On the Constitution Party Web site, the following notice is given: “Christians of Kootenai County should be dismayed at the appearance of a Hindu demon, Ganesh, statue that is currently found on Sherman ave in Coeur d’Alene soon. The godless group of individuals that manage the “art” of the city have approved and paid with tax-payer money for a Rick Davis to sculpt a statue as ugly as sin.” The site goes on to list the members of the 12 members of the Art Commission who serve three-year terms. Click here. (Photo: About.com Hinduism)

Reaction?

“Let's talk about hypothetical situations,” posts KXLY Web producer Nicole Hensley in her Blush Response blog earlier this afternoon. “You're in downtown Coeur d'Alene craving a hot dog. Something you would expect from a baseball stadium. You see a place called Dangerous Dog: Serious Sausage and immediately think, “they must mean serious business.” They do. Erick, from Ecuador, is the owner and he knows his dogs from a global standpoint. Oh, and your typical hot dog with onions, kraut, mustard and ketchup? It's #2, the Classic, out of 22 different dogs from hot dogs, to sausage, to chorizo.” More here (w/more photos). (KXLY photo: Nicole Hensley)

Question: Which do you prefer — hotdogs or hamburgers?

This metal moose sculpture at the corner of 5th & Lakeside/CdA is one of 14 art pieces now located in the downtown Coeur d'Alene area as part of ArtCurrents. The city’s newest art-on-loan program provides sculptures on loan from artists around the country and available for purchase. The 14 art pieces will remain in the downtown Coeur d'Alene corridor and City Park for public viewing for one year, or until sold. You can read more about the program here.