Not even a cup of joe is spared from the crosshairs of Redondo Beach politics as the March election approaches.

Dozens gathered at Catalina Coffee Co. on Thursday morning at the urging of the mayor in a show of support after the coffee shop was bashed on social media for endorsing a controversial ballot measure.

The neighborhood coffee shop, which has long abstained from taking a position on local politics, recently sent out a direct mailer stating its support of Measure B, which, if approved March 3, would get rid of the AES power plant for good, allowing mixed-use commercial and residential development in its place.

What followed was an onslaught of poor reviews on social media, seemingly triggered by a Facebook comment by a longtime opponent of “overdevelopment at the waterfront.”

Jim Light, president of Building a Better Redondo and one of the most vocal opponents of Measure B, took to a Facebook thread to share his disgust with the coffee shop’s flier.

“Hit them on Yelp,” he wrote. “I got the same (flier) and wrote up a Yelp on it. Not going back. Businesses should stay out of politics.”

Sure enough, “Jim L.” on Sunday posted on the coffee shop’s Yelp page, “Business owner pushes politics at business place. Alienates residents. Not going back here again.”

Over the next 24 hours, the coffee shop’s Yelp page blew up with negative reviews and one-star ratings, dropping its total rating from 4.5 stars to 3.5, said shop owner Jeff Sallee, who started the business with his mother in the 1990s. Many simply stated that they would not patronize a business that took a supportive stance on Measure B, but others “made up” reviews criticizing the management, the coffee and the food, Sallee said. Many of the posts have since been removed by the posters and Yelp moderators.

A few called for a boycott of the shop on Facebook pages related to Measure B.

Sallee said he also suddenly had several health department calls and visits due to a “random report” the department received, he was told.

“This is how I feed my family. This isn’t politics, this is personal now,” Sallee said. “You’re utilizing Yelp to terrorize a business that’s just stating an opinion.”

Mayor Steve Aspel caught wind of the online posts and immediately drafted a social media post of his own — urging residents to visit the coffee shop Thursday morning to rally around Sallee.

“Local politics can get a little grindy sometimes, but this is just going below the belt,” said Aspel, who supports Measure B. “This guy is a good, honest businessman in Redondo Beach. Now all of a sudden his restaurant went from great to horrible? You don’t get any lower than that. It’s just despicable.”

By 8:30 a.m. Thursday, there was a line stretching out the door of the coffee shop at 126 N. Catalina Ave. filled with residents, Chamber of Commerce board members, even a representative for the local assemblyman.

“I was appalled. I felt like this was a personal attack on (Sallee) and it outraged me beyond measure,” said Redondo Beach resident Trinity Singer. “A local business being attacked by someone just because they don’t share their belief is wrong.”

Any sort of negative Yelp postings or social media attacks are “childish tactics,” Singer said.

“We can be adults and just say, ‘I disagree,’ ” she said.

In a letter read aloud Thursday, Assemblyman David Hadley wrote, “If Jim Light does not want to enjoy Catalina Coffee, that is his business. But that does not give anybody a right to misuse powerful digital media platforms to seek to punish one’s political opponents.”

Steve Goldstein, former chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, said Catalina Coffee is the epitome of a local, small business where the owners are “your neighbors.”

“People should be allowed to come down on one side or the other of an important ballot measure and not have their business threatened because they disagree with someone else,” he said. “Threatening boycotts — that’s thug behavior.”

Light, whose Yelp post ignited the mayor’s ire, maintains that he never called for a boycott of the coffee shop, and simply stated his personal opinion of the shop’s stance.

“I think this is being blown way out of proportion,” Light said. “I have no heartburn with a business owner having an opinion, but customers have the right to not go back or to hit them on Yelp. That’s what Yelp is all about.”

Light said he was at the coffee shop with friends, discussing Measure B, when someone handed him a letter stating the shop’s opinion on the measure. Light originally said it was an employee who gave it to him, but later recanted that statement, adding that he did not see fliers supporting Measure B in the coffee shop.

“I was always taught there are two things you don’t bring up in the execution of business: religion and politics. You’re going to alienate people,” he said. “I felt like I was having their political opinion pushed on me. So I put on Yelp that I’m not going back.”

In another Facebook comment, Light wrote, “Put your political stance on your business letterhead and shove it in customers’ faces, you deserve what you get. Why risk alienating any part of your clientele? Dumb, dumb, dumb.”

Light said he did not tell anyone to boycott the business, nor did he denigrate their coffee or food.

As part of his civic involvement with several resident groups, including Redondo Residents for Responsible Revitalization, Light has amassed more than 6,000 email addresses of residents.

“If we wanted to, we could have flooded that thing (Yelp),” he said. “But we don’t want to play that type of game. The leaders of this group are not advocating a negative campaign or intimidation against businesses.”

Despite Light’s argument, Aspel said the post speaks for itself.

“He went on there and said, ‘Hit them on Yelp.’ That’s not a positive, friendly statement,” Aspel said. “You can vote no on B. It’s the American way. But don’t try to take out a small business.”

Aspel said that since the Yelp dispute, other restaurants in support of Measure B have called him to let him know they are taking down their Yes on B signs, fearing retaliation.

Tom Gray of Voices for Waterfront Vitality said his financial consulting business, which has a storefront in Riviera Village, also has been subject to “cyberbullying.”

“There has been an individual who has asked people to boycott our business on his Facebook page and has sent nasty messages to my wife in an email saying, ‘You don’t know who you are messing with. You are messing with the big boys now.’ ”

Light said, when it comes to Measure B, harassment is coming from both sides, as it has in past elections dealing with emotional development issues.

“If you go to the Facebook pages of our opponents, you will see far more harassment and name-calling than you see on ours,” he said. “People feel generally afraid to post something that opposes Yes on B. Business owners will not come out verbally no on B because they’ll feel chastised by the chamber.”

Councilman Bill Brand, a staunch opponent of Measure B whose council district includes the coffee shop, called the situation a “big, giant distraction.”

“The real issue is the overdevelopment plan that Aspel and others are supporting for King Harbor,” he said. “That’s much more important than the quality of coffee at Catalina Coffee Company.”

Clarification: Jim Light has recanted his statement about receiving a flier in support of Measure B from a coffee shop employee. He also said he did not see any fliers supporting Measure B posted up in the coffee house.