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Letter to the editor

Culture clash over parking

By CRISTINA SILVATIMES
Published June 24, 2007

TLC Food Mart, a small convenience store and Greek deli, is the kind of place where owner Taso Papargirious knows the names of his customers and their preferred brand of cigarettes by memory.

La Fogata, a Brazilian steak house that recently opened right next door, is the type of restaurant that offers free valet parking and $1, 000 bottles of French wine.

In a dispute that has disturbed the whole neighborhood, the two business establishments are now going head to head.

The cause of all this friction? A row of public parking spots lining Beach Boulevard, Gulfport's downtown business thoroughfare.

According to some residents and business owners, La Fogata is allegedly monopolizing the limited number of free public parking spots in the area, a part of Gulfport known for its eclectic art galleries, beachfront bars, and laid-back cafes.

The rift represents a culture clash as Gulfport's longtime hippie-friendly establishments have slowly started to give away to more sophisticated locales. In recent years, the city's artist community has been priced out of Gulfport's downtown and been replaced with trendy restaurants and new merchants.

Property values also have soared, and, accordingly, so have taxes, at times putting a strain on longstanding business owners.

Hans Gery Klenke, La Fogata's owner, said the hostility expressed by some Gulfport residents has been shocking.

Residents have walked up to him and confronted him, asking, "Who do you think you are?" and, "Get out of Gulfport, " Klenke said.

"I think a lot of neighbors are not so happy because we are big and they don't like the change. I'm very sorry about that, but there is nothing we can do about it, " he said.

The parking drama began when La Fogata's construction workers started parking in front of TLC.

Papargirious complained, and Klenke said he asked the workers to move.

Klenke originally got permission from the city to park his customers' cars behind the nearby Gulfport library. But after La Fogata opened in April, customers began lining Beach Boulevard with their cars instead.

Papargirious then confronted the restaurant's clients, occasionally yelling at them to move their "f------ cars, " Klenke said.

Klenke sent Papargirious a cease and desist letter. Papargirious denies ever harassing La Fogata's customers.

Early last week, Papargirious responded by drafting a petition asking city officials to reserve several parking spots in front of his business for 15-minute parking. The parking spots could be used by anyone who was running a quick errand, not just his customers, Papargirious said.

Nearly 400 residents signed the petition in four days, Papargirious said. Residents were glad to help out if it meant La Fogata couldn't continue to use the majority of parking spots on the street.

"The whole entire neighborhood are their enemies, " Papargirious said.

Even before the chic steak house opened, it was already rubbing locals the wrong way. Construction of the $3.8-million Spanish-style building took nearly three years.

Naysayers continued to pick apart the restaurant once it opened.

The wine list includes a $4, 500 bottle of 1995 Chateau Petrus Pomerol imported from Bordeaux, France. The restaurant's swanky, hip bar, Bellini's, seems like it was transplanted from New York's flashy Chelsea district.

In short, La Fogata was like nothing anyone had seen in Gulfport before.

"The people who go there wouldn't be caught dead in a store like this, " Papargirious said on a recent afternoon as he sat behind the counter of his simple deli. "You see them driving up in their Cadillacs, their Lexuses."

La Fogata's management has tried to reach out to the community. Klenke invited dozens of local merchants for a complimentary meal in April to "thank them for their patience and to apologize for all the dirt and noise" from the construction, he said.

It was a goodwill gesture that went far with some in the neighborhood.

Jim Rehbein, who owns the coffee shop Java Nirvana Cafe, said that while it is harder to park downtown in the evening hours since La Fogata opened, the restaurant's managerial staff seem friendly and well-intentioned.

"Overall, I think the restaurant has a positive effect on the community, " he said. "It is bringing more people down here."

It's not as if La Fogata is the first popular, fancy restaurant to set up shop in the midst of Beach Boulevard's small strip of art shops and murky bars.

Gulfport residents have been willing to dust off their cleanest jeans to enjoy a fine meal at La Cote Basque Winehouse for years. They also eagerly cough up their credit card for a pricey meal at Backfin Blue Cafe. But the parking problem has tainted La Fogata for some residents.

Jennifer McLaughlin, who lives off Beach Boulevard, said she is tired of having to circle the block looking for a parking spot.

La Fogata customers should park at the library, like the restaurant originally planned, she said.

"I can't afford to dine there, but maybe once a year I will be able to or if someone is visiting, I could recommend the place, " she said. "But because they are being so inconsiderate with the parking situation, I don't want to go there."

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 23, 2007, 23:40:03]