Yes to Pismo’s Christmas tree — but no to more tattoo parlors and pawn shops

I’ve been living in Pismo Beach long enough to remember when there was no Christmas tree on the pier. Then there was a lighted tree that looked like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree — quite embarrassing as I recall.

Then the city did it right. For the past four years the current lighted tree is the focal point of the holiday season in our city and fills me with the spirit each evening I see it. I’ve called the city’s business line four times since the tree was erected. The reason for my calls? The lights were out. What’s worse, I had to call on Christmas evening because — you guessed it — the lights were out. No luck, they never came back on.

Really, no lighted tree on Christmas night? Big failure.

Just saw the city’s emergency ordinance imposing a temporary moratorium on new “personal service” businesses to avoid creating redundancies. Businesses affected by the ordinance include tattoo parlors, massage parlors, pawn shops, smoke shops, check cashing stores and other similar businesses.

My wife and I often joke about who’s opening up next in that vacated store front — probably a tattoo parlor, massage parlor or a mattress store. One would think existing businesses would embrace this attempt to stop same-type saturation. I, for one, applaud the city’s proactive step.

This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Yes to Pismo’s Christmas tree — but no to more tattoo parlors and pawn shops."