I want to apologize to the Bier Stube mafia that have appeared in my Twitter mentions over the weekend to yell at me about Thursday’s piece about the Bier Stube and the surrounding lot being bulldozed for 120 apartments of student housing.

I’m not apologizing because I said anything wrong. But that your anger is my fault. I write my dumb little screeds for the entertainment of my readers who know what’s on my heart.

They know that after a long and sometimes illegal drinking career, I retired from alcohol six months ago. The longtime readers also know that, as little as two years ago, I might have chained myself to the Bier Stube’s door to prevent its demolition.

I’ve also been through this song and dance numerous times. Larry’s. Lucky’s. Too’s. Bernie’s. It was the same cycle every time. People get mad. The bulldozer comes anyway. And then life goes on.

At least Bier Stube will be getting demolished for something useful. That’s more than you can say most of the time. My favorite bar of all-time, The Main Bar, which stood as a saloon since the 1890s, got bulldozed for a fucking surface parking lot as if those are lacking in our downtown built for suburbanites.

I also understand the assumption that these 120 apartments will be populated by the biggest scumbags alive. But the fact is, Columbus built itself so poorly the first time—for example, you don’t see anybody weeping about the loss of the Bier Stube’s parking lot—that it has to trample over some old, beloved buildings to house the people coming here.

They can be the most expensive apartments in the area. They will be filled and they will help lower rent in the off-campus residential areas.

This is a fact that I didn’t understand recently and exactly why I would have traditionally been up in arms about something like this. But the fact is, even “luxury” housing is relief towards our housing crisis.

From Daniel Herriges of the excellent smalltowns.org as far back as 2018 that should be read in full to answer this common critique I heard:

This notion that development’s benefits accrue only to the well-off can engender a sort of defeatism among affordable housing advocates. Those who might stand to gain from additional investment in their neighborhoods aren’t going to be motivated to come out and advocate forcefully for it if they don’t think that they will be the beneficiaries.

Too often, however, the observation, “Developers are only building luxury housing,” reflects a lack of understanding of the situation it describes. Why are developers in your community primarily building for the high end of the market?

If your gut reaction is “Greed!” please read further. Developers, yes, are in business to make a profit, and aren’t easily persuaded to act contrary to that goal. But the actual issues surrounding what gets built, when, and for whom are far more complex.

I am not a developer schlepper. If I were, I could be on city council. But this city needs new builds, and this is about as good as plan as any that you will be seen. My only criticism is that the building isn’t taller—but that goes to the material problems facing the entire construction industry right now.

If the Bier Stube owned the deed to the property, this would be an entirely different discussion. That is something upon which a preservation campaign can stand.

But the Stube doesn’t have the deed. So what is to be done to save it, exactly? Because it seems like the primary plan is calling me an asshole—which is fine. And in this city, you’re going to need more than anger to solve injustices much more grave than replacing a bar with housing.

It’s not that I have no love in my heart for the Stube. I do. More than any one stranger could comprehend by simply reading a post.

I just don’t have the outrage bandwidth anymore at this stage in my life. I’ve come to accept that the development of my version of Ohio State’s surrounding area is a good thing. It means the city is growing, and with it, the university, too.

II have seen way more important shit bulldozed in this city for way worse plans than dense housing along transit lines in a growing metropolitan area. Columbus once kicked seniors out of a living center on High Street before Christmas for a bougie hotel for the convention circuit. The Bier Stube never stood a chance.

One thing that seems to be left out of the criticism is that the Bier Stube is free to move locations. That’s exactly what Too’s did. There was an entire outrage campaign to #SaveToos. It did jack shit. Then the owners moved and opened Three’s, which is still in business to this day.

A lot of Stube fans would probably say how it “wouldn’t be the same.” And they’re right, it wouldn’t be. But it’s not the actual building that makes the bar great. It’s the community, and that’s something that developers and landlords can never take from us.

I hope the Stube finds a new location near campus. I don’t drink, but I still enjoy pizza and talking with friends. It wouldn’t be the same, no, but it would be better than nothing.

And most of the time in this god-forsaken city, that’s a good day at the office.