DOP Chronicles

Regular readers of ESF and similar sites know that permitting in SF and Oakland is an unbearable gauntlet that can delay restaurant openings for months and even years. But a Chron piece on Smitten Ice Cream's forthcoming Rockridge shop provides a special window into the insanity: among other requirements, the city wants building owner John Vicars to submit the name of every plant he's put in the back garden, is refusing to let Smitten empty their (legally mandated) recycling out back because of noise concerns, and, most ridiculously, is insisting on valet parking on Saturday nights—for an ice cream shop. [Chron]