Neighbors Pay for Cafe

As a resident of the area of Sherman Oaks that is directly affected by the clientele of the Insomnia Cafe, I feel your article was unfair and ignorant of the Insomnia’s neighbors’ plight, blatantly supporting every action of the Insomnia Cafe and its owner.

Every day I can feel the effect of this groupie hangout in one way or another. I know the owner claims that he provides a safe, no-alcohol environment. However, a number of teen-agers who frequent my back street often leave many beer bottles behind. When I return home around midnight I often see large groups of kids congregating on a neighbor’s lawn.

I cannot even park where I want in my own neighborhood anymore, now that all these kids searching for a place to park have caused my neighborhood to create a parking district. This parking district requires a sticker that is expensive and a hardship to obtain.

A month ago, I returned home to discover a group of men urinating on my next door neighbor’s lawn. Sherman Oaks was designed to be a safe, friendly, cared-for neighborhood, not a urinal for packs of hoodlums.

By the way, I myself am a teen-ager who refuses to go to this coffeehouse. And I laugh at my friends when I hear of them receiving tickets in my parking district.

MATTHEW P. LANDLER, Sherman Oaks