{"id":150791,"date":"2023-12-14T09:15:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=150791"},"modified":"2023-12-14T08:12:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T13:12:57","slug":"norfolk-city-council-ignores-city-planning-commission-approves-permits-for-armed-forces-brewing-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=150791","title":{"rendered":"Norfolk City Council ignores city planning commission, approves permits for Armed Forces Brewing Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Norfolk’s planning commission, working together with a local neighborhood association, attempted to derail efforts for a brewing company to obtain permits. The Armed Forces Brewing Company’s taproom and distribution facility received opposition due to remarks by one of its owners. The individual, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, is alleged to have made comments not favorable to LGBT. The opposition claimed that the general viewpoints of the owners did not reflect that of the community.<\/p>\n

From Military.com:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The City Council bucked recommendations by the city’s planning commission and a local neighborhood association to deny the permits, while many residents said the brewery would be a terrible fit. They argued its ownership doesn’t reflect the diversity of the U.S. military, veterans or this liberal-leaning city on the Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n

The brewery markets itself with politically conservative ads. Its leadership said the resistance was purely over its owners’ political views or cherry picked social media posts made by minority shareholders.<\/p>\n

CEO Alan Beal told the council that everyone is welcome at the brewery, while its focus is “making great beer and helping veterans and their family members.”<\/p>\n

Most of Norfolk’s City Council members said the matter was simply a land-use issue and nothing more.<\/p>\n

“These posts do not respect the LGBTQ community, women or our Norfolk values,” Councilwoman Courtney Doyle said of promotional videos and social media posts linked to the brewery or its shareholders. “But Armed Forces Brewery has a First Amendment right to free speech just as you and I do. And these posts have not crossed the line into prohibited speech.”<\/p>\n

The pushback to the project has mostly centered on Robert J. O’Neill, an ex-SEAL who said he was the one who fatally shot Osama bin Laden during a 2011 raid. O’Neill has a 4% stake in the brewery, sits on its board and has served as its brand ambassador. He also starred in a gunshot-filled promotional video for the company.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Military.com has additional information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Norfolk’s planning commission, working together with a local neighborhood association, attempted to derail efforts for … Norfolk City Council ignores city planning commission, approves permits for Armed Forces Brewing Company<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society","category-veterans-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=150791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}