Leslie H. Clark

Nov 2, 2024 | ojaivalleynews.com | Melissa Rae Sanger |Helena Pasquarella |Bill Locey |Leslie H. Clark

By Melissa Rae Sanger, Helena Pasquarella, Bill Locey, Leslie Clark and Diana Kelly Bravo to Ojai for adopting a groundbreaking new law — the Companion Animal Protection Ordinance — making it the first U.S. city to ban “torture breeding.”This cruel practice involves intentionally breeding animals to have distorted physical features — such as grotesquely flattened faces and disproportionately long spines — which lead to a lifetime of suffering.

Aug 24, 2024 | thevillagesun.com | Leslie H. Clark

BY LESLIE CLARK | Over the last month, the New York press has been filled with stories about the decline, decimation, disappearance and even the death of New York’s supposedly “popular” outdoor dining program: “New York City’s freewheeling era of outdoor dining has come to end” [AP] “Disappearing Seats, Defiant Eateries and the End of an Era” [The City] “Dining Sheds Will Start Disappearing” [Bloomberg] “New Outdoor Dining Regulations Decimate Outdoor Dining” [Hell Gate] The stories...

Jul 24, 2024 | thevillagesun.com | Leslie H. Clark

BY LESLIE CLARK | There are two tests of whether a public hearing is a truly effective way for citizens to engage with their government: The public knows where and when to attend that hearing and the public knows what is being discussed at that hearing. The New York City Department of Transportation has failed both of those tests in its hearings on roadway dining sheds — and violated the New York City Charter to boot.

Jul 4, 2024 | thevillagesun.com | Leslie H. Clark

BY LESLIE CLARK | Should a restaurant be allowed to have a dining shed on a street that is so narrow that emergency vehicles might not be able to get past that shed? That question was recently answered twice by a Department of Transportation Dining Out NYC rep who said in a hospitality industry presentation — and then again in a public hearing — that D.O.T. would help that restaurant get permission to stick its shed into that critical 15-foot-wide emergency travel lane.

Apr 24, 2024 | thevillagesun.com | Leslie H. Clark

BY LESLIE CLARK | The restaurant-liquor industrial complex is on a roll. Unless they are stopped, they’re going to roll right over our neighborhoods. For years, the “hospitality sector” has wanted less interference from the “community” and more freedom to sell cocktails on the sidewalk, the roadway, in the cellar and on the rooftop. And their wishes are coming true.