To: Rochester Park Board, Rochester City Council, the Mayor's office and Mayor-elect Joe Powers

Since January 2022, Townies Philly Kitchen + Bar has turned the Soldiers Field clubhouse into one of Rochester's favorite spots. Golfers grab a cheesesteak and a beer after a round, families come over from the pool and the playground, and in the middle of winter, when the course and pool are closed, Townies keeps the park alive. Rochester Magazine readers voted it Best New Restaurant and Best Sandwich Place. It has served free Thanksgiving meals to people who needed one, and its regulars once chipped in to buy a worker a new bike after his was stolen on the job.

Townies also built that space. The deal was simple: the lease required Townies to put at least $35,500 of its own money into the city's building, and in exchange it paid lower rent. Townies ended up spending approximately $50,000. Townies held up its end, and the city got a renovated clubhouse it didn't have to pay for. Calling the rent "below market" without mentioning that investment leaves out half the deal.

Now, at the end of that first lease, the Park Board is being asked to hand the space to someone else. We're asking the Park Board and the City Council to:

1. Hold off. Don't approve the Nov 10 recommendation, and don't sign a new clubhouse agreement in December.

2. Renew with Townies. Give them a fair new lease that credits the approximately $50,000 they've already invested, instead of pushing out the business that built the location.

3. Look at both proposals side by side. The board packet includes the other bid. Townies' proposal should be in front of the board and the public too.

4. Take care of the building. Whoever runs the clubhouse needs a landlord that fixes things like the kitchen A/C.

We also want answers. Townies says it spent years asking the city to fix the kitchen in a building the city owns, and even paid $5,000 out of pocket to replace a dead exhaust fan. This summer the A/C failed completely and the restaurant had to close. Townies also says a renewal lease had already been drafted before it spoke up in July. Weeks later the talks fell apart and the space went out for bids. Rochester deserves to know why. Release the emails between Parks staff and Townies, the RFP scoring and the reasons the renewal talks ended.

We have nothing against Uni Uni or Old Abe. Both are local businesses. But Townies earned this spot, and the people who use Soldiers Field should have a say in what happens to it.