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Comment on SF Zoning Department rules that Workshop Cafe is an office, forcing it to close [pdf]

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It has meeting rooms, desks,...etc.

Not really surprised the zoning department ruled it was co-working space vs a cafe:

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x808580795532c08...

Although I have never been there, but I don't think the street view makes your point. If you take the monitors out that cafe does not look any different than any other rather run of the mill cafe with stock furniture.

I wonder if this is a bit of a perception is 9/10ths of reality thing where the fact that the furniture looks too "office like" with the separated meeting table with an wall hung TV and other office-feel things; rather than cafe-like with exposed wood and pipes, Edison bulbs, copper stuff, monitors that are built into an enclosure instead of free standing, etc. the bureaucrats found a probably already biased/influenced position and finding easier to rationalize.

I know that may seem silly to some, but if you have ever worked with or in a bureaucratic and especially a political office, you will surely know what I mean when I am describing the use of any and all excuses and tiniest little reasons to rationalize a preconceived or forgone conclusion. It's really a major scourge on every single aspect of government and leads to these kinds of decisions.

My theory is that it largely stems from the fact that bureaucrats, including most politicians these days, simply have no real accountability or consequences for their actions and decisions, so some tiny technical violation can invalidate everything else on precept.

They charge per hour for `workspace`: https://www.workshopcafe.com/pricing & https://www.workshopcafe.com/meeting-rooms

A true cafe doesn't charge you an hourly seating price. Its somewhat a grey area though as a cafe might have an `order` minimum/hour or kick someone out who hasn't bought something recently.

Have you ever been there? I went a bunch of times just to use it as a coffee shop and it felt no different to any other coffee shop from that perspective. Hard to imagine who benefits from this (other than the national/multinational coffee chains in the surrounding blocks).

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