Save Hardy's Daycare!
The City of Auburn is considering allowing a Bar/Lounge called FlipFlops to come in the old FreeWheeler Building next door to Hardy's daycare. The daycare itself wraps around that building. Children would be in danger from broken glass, cigarette butts, and beer bottles that patrons will inevitable leave on the playground and in the parking lot.
This type of decision could ruin the reputation of this daycare that has been in Auburn for 30 years.
Please help by signing! The petition will be presented to City Council prior to the March 24th Meeting.
The City of Auburn is considering allowing a Bar/Lounge called FlipFlops to come in the old FreeWheeler Building next door to Hardy's daycare. The daycare itself wraps around that building. Children would be in danger from broken glass, cigarette butts, and beer bottles that patrons will inevitable leave on the playground and in the parking lot.
This type of decision could ruin the reputation of this daycare that has been in Auburn for 30 years.
Please help by signing! The petition will be presented to City Council prior to the March 24th Meeting.
We, the undersigned heard about Auburn's plan to put a bar next to Hardy's daycare this week and were saddened and appalled. The safety issues for the children and putting this daycare under serious hardship due to future potential parents choosing a different daycare is our main concern.
Hardy's already has difficulty with vandalism after football game days. Hardy's employees spend time mornings after games picking up broken glass,condoms, and beer bottles out of the parking lot as well as the fenced in playground (this will also raise insurance costs for Mrs. Hardy, creating more of a financial difficulty on her).
We can only imagine what would result if there was a bar next door. A bar with no parking. A bar that won't have the same access to street parking as the bars located by Toomer's corner. Because of this, if the bar actually does happen, patrons will try to park in the daycare parking lot, get too drunk to drive home, and leave their cars there, taking up space that Martha Hardy is paying for her own business and increasing the likelihood of litter and vandalism at the daycare.
The only benefit we can see to the City if this goes through is tax dollars, but how much sense does that make if the tax dollars from Hardy's could go away. To put if differently, putting a bar next to this daycare will seriously affect enrollment. No one can say they'd like their child or grandchild to be in a daycare that's literally inches from a bar, especially in Auburn with it's family atmosphere. The fear is that Hardy's will eventually go under if this passes. Auburn will be responsible for ruining the business of a taxpayer and business owner who has given back to the city and University for 30 years. The message the city of Auburn is giving the parents and children, as well as the community, is that it doesn't matter. This will be done for the sake of a bar, in a poor location for a bar, a bar that will probably go under itself in 3 years anyway what with all the conditions that will need to be put on it.
This type of decision which will compromise common sense, family atmosphere, and reputation can easily snow ball into more decisions like this, resulting in something like what Buckhead in Atlanta has become.
Bar owners need look elsewhere to put their business. This location will have more serious consequences than it seems the City of Auburn has considered.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Mrs. Hardy's Daycare has been a part of the Auburn Community for over 25 years. I find it hard to believe that the City of Auburn does not have an ordinance against having bars in the near vicinity of facilities that care for and educate children. I hope the City Council will come to their senses and let common sense override greed.
This is ridiculous!
Please think of the innocent children and the influence this will have on them.
I am a parent of a child at Hardy’s and I have a PhD in economics so I fully understand the need to raise taxes in hard times but letting a bar open next to the only nationally licensed daycare in town (a process that took many years of devoted work) is a short-sighted policy that is economically a bad choice. In economics we call this negative externality, when the damage which a business does is not priced in the product it sells (in this case possible tax revenues are “sold” to the city of Auburn authorities). Local authorities should consider social welfare in the long term, not in the short term. As a side note, if a long-term focus was maintained on national level by financial regulators, we would not have the economic crisis we have now in and perhaps no “Flip-Flop” problem. A repainted building and taxes that may or may not be raised will have a negative externality on the most productive long-term investment in the human capital represented by the high quality education of Auburn’s children offered by a business that has paid taxes for a long time. All researchers now agree that early quality daycare is more productive investment than investment in improving K-12 system later on. I am not sure a bar would be allowed next to a school in Auburn. Hardy is the best daycare in town but I personally will seriously re-consider keeping my child there if a bar operates next door, irrespective or what safeguards you think you may mandate to lessen the damage. This will affect my productivity and the amount of grants and contracts I personally and other AU employees can bring to town and the taxes that the city will collect, which may or may not be substantial but are the kind of externalities you may also want to consider. On a personal note, I grew up in another country in and I am utterly shocked and dismayed that the city of Auburn would even consider letting a bar operate next to a daycare. This is bad for the city image, and very poor judgment.
As a parent concerned with safety and welfare of my child and the children of my colleagues at Auburn University, I would like to strongly object to establishing a lounge serving alcoholic beverages (a bar) next to the Hardy's daycare center. The proposed use (bar/lounge) at the proposed location (next to a daycare) is likely to result in an adverse effect on the adjacent property of the Hardy's Daycare center due to the nature of a place serving alcohol. Such places are unsafe for children to be in close proximity of and are certainly not in harmony with child care. I doubt there are many places in the country where bars and daycare center are located side by side. Hardy's Creative Daycare Center is the oldest and most reputable daycare in Auburn now serving the second generation of families. Opening a bar next to it will seriously undermine an old establishment whose excellence took a long time and effort to build. It is also important to remember that, in the relative absence of quality daycare in the city, Hardy's is an attracting factor for those considering moving to Auburn. Now, Auburn's Planning Commission has the power to add conditions, founded upon concerns for public safety and welfare, to the use approval and to refuse approval if the conditions are not met. I believe this present case calls for it!
As an of age student at Auburn I understand that people like to go out. But, that has also afforded me the opportunity to see the utter disregard for property and the cleanliness of Auburn itself certain people hold. Please do not allow this bar to be opened next to a daycare. There are plenty of other places to open a bar in this town.
This is crazy to even consider!!! No to FlipFlops!!!!
I work in childcare and can't believe that this is even up for debate. A bar next door to child care??? I shudder to think of all the negatives that those poor children will be exposed to with a bar next door.
Bars and children DO NOT MIX. Please don't allow a bar to go in next the Hardy's day care. For the saftey of my nephew and all of the children in Hardy's daycare - keep our children safe. Thank you , Suzonne Bunch
I have been in Auburn for a long time, and I don't think that a daycare should have a bar right next door. There are plenty of places that are empty in town. There are more places suitable for a bar/lounge.
Daycares need a healthy environment!
Common sense, Bar's next to Day care for Children.
We as a society have a moral obligation to our children to give them the feeling that they are important to us. With that comes the feeling of security and safety. Some children are not offered that in their home environments and only find refuge during the hours they are in daycare. Please do the right thing , although it may not be the fiscal thing or the popular thing. Let our children know we are invested in them.
This is awful. Please help save this wonderful daycare!
Please help us to fight the City of Auburn Alabama's recommendation to put a Bar next door to Hardy's Daycare!
