Browse archives: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995

Published on 11/23/1998 All articles from this issue

Council to consider limit on Los Altos beauty shops

printer friendly version

By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

People are wondering about the growing number of beauty shops on Main and State streets in downtown Los Altos.

"I'm not proposing we do anything," said City Councilman Francis La Poll at the Los Altos Council meeting Nov. 24. "But I'm hearing about it, and we need to look into it," he said.

During a recent council and staff walk-and-talk trek in Los Altos, La Poll heard concerns and questions about the growing number of personal grooming businesses in the downtown area.

La Poll said he wants public input. "People are talking about it over the back fence. Let's get it out in the open."

Councilwoman Kris Casto shared La Poll's concern. Their two votes were enough to get the item onto a council agenda by the first meeting in January.

Council members will consider limiting the number of beauty shops in the downtown area. "It worked well with banks," La Poll said.

Casto wondered where the downtown is now compared to five years ago regarding the number of personal grooming services.

"They seem to be in so many places," she said. "Is it healthy for downtown?"

Planning commissioner Penny Lave thinks it is. She said her experience shows that it brings in foot traffic. People who come to get their hair done then have lunch in the downtown restaurants and shop in the stores.

For an emergency ordinance to go into place, the item needs only to be on the agenda, said city attorney Bob Booth. Businesses do not need to be sent notices, he said.