Mr. Bennit:
No amount of words can express how deeply you have affected my life and the lives of many others by blatantly disregarding specific instructions by the City of Stockton. I am disappointed in how foolishly you have acted as the landlord of several businesses on Miracle Mile. And most of all, I'm pissed off at how disrespectfully you have behaved towards the businesses that have rented your spaces. You have leveled a tremendous amount of damage against them, be it financially or emotionally, and there is no one else to blame. You are at fault, and I am calling you out on it.
On June 7th, 2017, the City of Stockton informed nine local businesses residing at 1825, 18227, 1829, and 1831 Pacific Avenue, part of Stockton’s Miracle Mile, that they would need to close immediately and vacate the premises by 1:00 PM on Friday, June 9th, due to fire and building code violations. These properties are all owned by you, Mr. Bennitt, you, who have had multiple violations brought against you in the last few years.
In fact, the City of Stockton signed an agreement with you sometime in October of 2016 that allotted you a total of 90 days to fix the issues that had arisen with your properties. Unfortunately for the aforementioned businesses, you failed to comply. The nine local businesses include Casa Flores Mexican Restaurant, Centrale Kitchen & Bar, Empresso Coffeehouse, Gusty’s Wings, Serendipity Salon, The Mile Restaurant & Bar, Balance Physical Therapy & Pilates, Carter Financial Solutions, and Catalyst Real Estate.
While these names may mean nothing to many of you reading this, the community held them so dear that some of those living nearby came to help the business owners move. Miracle Mile has been a significant shopping stretch since 1923, when Joe Plecarpo copied the idea from Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile on Wilshire Boulevard. It begins on Pacific Avenue at Harding Way and ends at the Calaveras River. In the near-century since it’s conception, Miracle Mile has continued to grow and thrive amongst the residential areas that surround it, as well as the consistent flow of students from Stockton’s University of the Pacific.
As a Pacific student and nearby resident of the Mile, I can only tell you in so many words how deeply saddened I am to hear that you, Christopher Bennitt, would be so bold as to deny these businesses the ability to fix YOUR mistake and YOUR wrongdoing by not informing them of the code violations YOUR property faced. YOU did this. YOU left nine businesses worth of people out of jobs with two days notice. There is no one to blame but you.
Sure, we could direct our frustrations at the City of Stockton for not informing the businesses of the flaws that needed fixing. Don't worry, we are. I’m beyond annoyed that a city I’ve lived in for four years has failed so many of our own with such crass behavior. But I can forgive the City of Stockton, because their mayor has recently been jailed, and their economy is sort of in the toilet, and their streets are unsafe for the people who merely mean to live. But while I can forgive the City of Stockton for its failure to inform, I cannot forgive you.
I cannot forgive you, Mr. Bennitt, for your decision to ignore warnings by the city. I cannot forgive you, Mr. Bennitt, for your decision not to inform your tenants of the impending evictions they could (and currently are) facing due to your negligence. I cannot forgive you, Mr. Bennitt, for taking an important piece of Stockton’s history and its present and forcing it out of the Mile. I cannot forgive you for breaking my heart and taking away my favorite coffee shop, Empresso Coffeehouse, which resided a mere three blocks from my apartment. I cannot forgive you for forcing your tenants’ employees to find other work because you were too lazy, cheap, or disorganized to fix the property that YOU own.
On Facebook, an employee of the Empresso Coffeehouse at 1825 Pacific Avenue wrote about their feelings on the subject. They wrote, “If we had [had] any knowledge on what needed to be done we would [have] willingly done what was needed to fix our space to ensure it was up to code.” Mr. Bennitt, this is your fault. You managed to piss off the majority of Stockton without so much as batting an eyelash. In fact, the entire reason we’re mad is that you did a sum total of jack diddly squat. You couldn’t even be bothered to tell your tenants? Really? I am in utter disbelief that anyone could be so careless.
In short, I would like to inform you that you have disappointed, disgraced, and genuinely harmed this city and the Mile by taking such action, by which I mean NO action, and allowing these businesses to be closed by YOUR hand.
So now I have a question for you. Rather than sit in your home and loathe yourself, pity yourself, and sulk, you have a choice to make. What are you going to do to correct this? You’ve made a mistake, but rather than sit on your behind and let it be broken, you can do what is necessary to bring your property to code, right now, today. While that may not fix the situation entirely, and while many of the evicted businesses may not be able or willing to move back in, it would certainly help build morale in the community and shed a much more positive light on you and your properties.
And Mr. Bennitt, please keep in mind that you will not be alone in this. This community is so fond of the Mile and of the local businesses that utilize that space, that we would be happy to help. I would be happy to help. I will do anything, whatever it takes, to ensure this never happens again. Standing by and doing nothing as these local businesses are kicked out of their homes is a despicable act. But you can help to assuage any guilt you may be feeling-- and I would be surprised if it weren’t a lot-- and help other businesses find their potential on your property.
Please help correct the mistake YOU made. Please don’t let this happen again. Fix your property and help bring the Mile back to life once more.
