Before

After

In order to turn this into that, I must file for building plans. I could just lie, build a restaurant and say I found it like that. I figure that would save me about $80,000. The health dept could walk through any day and bust me, then I would be screwed. I have been talking to contractors and designers and planners about the easiest way to navigate the city building and safety system to get my plans approved.

The city, to their credit now has a restaurant department, and assign you a case manager to help steer you through the process. I have not come out to them yet about my plans and am trying to get as much work done before any preliminary inspection.

The main uncertainty I face is the bathrooms. I have one tiny restroom. The city says that if you are a new business you must build a California ADA approved fully accessible bathroom. That is really big, almost 7 ft X 7 ft, and they do not cut me any slack for having been in a wheelchair for two months last year.

The State says that if you want to serve alcohol you must have gender specific bathrooms, and the men’s room must have a urinal as well. I asked them why and they said ” we don’t know, the rule was made in 1940 and we think it had something to do with transvestism”. They really said that.