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Gasp: Cambridge cafe to cut WiFi at lunchtime

Dwelltime on Broadway reports too many people have been using its tables as a cheap coworking space, and that's "run at odds with our aspirations of developing dwelltime as a social hub." So no more WiFi between 11:30 and 3, starting on Friday.

David explains why that won't work - the slacker workers will just set up 4G hotspots and keep on hoggin.' At the same time, he says he doesn't understand why Cambridge won't let the cafe expand just because it doesn't have any off-street parking:

There's a bus stop out front and the place is 4 blocks from the red line, but somehow the city thinks that the business needs to provide parking. And the penalty for not providing parking is to be restricted to perhaps half the seating capacity it could serve. Certainly the last thing I want in my precious Cambridge neighborhood is a cafe full of people. Ugh, the thought of it.

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Comments

They put these rules - plus a one-hour wifi limit - in effect at True Grounds in Ball Square, Somerville years ago.

It seems to have worked because they are still doing it. People coming in for lunch need the tables.

The parking issue is ridiculous. They should be encouraging less car use, not more in Central Square!

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I thought they had decided to pursue walking-friendly policies and limit parking. But this requirement sounds like something from the worst areas of suburban sprawl. What's going on?

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Cambridge and other nearby cities still have parking minimums for businesses and residential buildings. At the same time, they make it very hard to add parking, or get a waiver for these minimums.

It's one of the main reasons why we don't have more housing in walkable areas (which keeps housing prices high), and why we don't have more neighborhood-friendly stores within walking distance of residential areas (which only encourages people to buy cars so they can drive to one of the few big supermarkets).

We should be building 5-story apartment buildings with little or no parking, and retail on the first floor, all over the streets near T stations.

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Looking around I see that Cambridge still has parking minimums despite instituting maximums as well. They should just get rid of the minimums.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/11/17/p...

I read this article a while back and got the impression that Cambridge was trying to rein in parking:

Meanwhile, Cambridge took a different tack, and decided in 1985 to essentially ban the creation of any new parking spots. That decision marked the beginning of a reversal in its population trend: it started growing quite impressively.

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I like Dave's response about waitstaff. It's a tough call and I imagine a battle royale will break out here. Good for the cafe, let them see if their business decision works for them.

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bourbon coffee in porter does something sort of like it. People order at the counter but every so often one of the staff comes around and clears off the cups and plates that people are clearly no longer using. They're very friendly and low-key about it but it does remind people that they've been there for a while and if I feel like staying longer I can always just order something else. I think it works well.

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what about their aspirations for it as a coffee shop? not on the priorities list?

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I was in there on Sunday and they seem to put on emphasis on the coffee. My cold brew was excellent, but I had to take it to go because there were no seats. If I could have sat down I might have ordered a pastry, too.

So succeeding as a coffee shop goes hand in hand with being a social space where people can work for a while using the Wi-Fi. But I'd agree that cutting it off completely might be an overreaction -- instituting an hour limit or having a staff members gently remind people not to squat for hours seems like a better solution.

I kind of feel like a dumbass because I saw the petition and thought it was a sign-up sheet for their mailing list. I live in Somerville though so I don't know if I even count. But requiring parking is so stupid -- the area is so dense with young people who don't have cars, and even if they do, who drives just to get coffee? (besides suburbanites getting their Dunks or Starbucks).

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People are ruining it for everyone. Table hogs know what they're doing, they're just arrogant. Buying a $2.00 cup of coffee does not give you free range of the shop for six hours.

You see these pigs all the time at Starbucks and other shops. Mostly, students who bring in their own food and proceed to spread out taking up space for two.

I haven't seen the situation in Cambridge. My guess is that it's all the young dudes working on their "start-ups".

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There is a fully accessible facility with wifi, tables, quiet spaces, and even reference materials! A person can go there and study or "office" for quite a while - for free!

http://www.cambridgema.gov/cpl.aspx

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Is not nearly as good :)

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Saw a guy in the SBUX in East Milton sitting there with his laptop with a cup of coffee from the Dunkins across the street.

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Ha! I've seen this at other Starbucks before too! I guess some people prefer DD's coffee, but Sbux seating? DD's makes an obvious effort to make sure their customers are too uncomfortable to hang out with their coffee and doughnut for long.

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Every time I make the mistake of sitting at a Dunkin Donuts to have a drink and/or snack, I leave with my clothes smelling like cigarettes.

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