While sitting down for dinner with family and friends inside a restaurant or bar is not likely to happen in the near future for Bay Area residents, limited dining on outdoor patios and in sidewalk cafes may not be too far off.
In fact, outdoor dining could very well become the new norm.
Under a new initiative proposed by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Councilwoman Dev Davis, businesses — particularly restaurants — could be allowed to take over parking lots, shut down parts of streets and siphon off areas of a public park for open-air services when the region begins to open back up in the coming months.
“We recognize that in a city with 300 days of sunshine a year, we have a unique opportunity to offer a plan for greater resilience to the coronavirus challenge that is facing every single small business owner in this city and throughout the country right now,” Liccardo said during a news conference on Friday.
The new proposal — dubbed Al Fresco San Jose — was announced less than a week after some states, like South Carolina, permitting the reopening of outdoor dining and as other cities across the nation are working on similar regulations to allow for increased outdoor services when their stay-at-home orders are lifted.
Earlier this week, San Mateo Mayor Joe Goethals announced a new task force that will be exploring the potential of closing some downtown streets for restaurant seating. On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce new guidance for sit-down dining in California.
The various efforts are all tied together by a singular goal: get Americans back to work and start rebuilding the nation’s devastated economy.
The National Restaurant Association estimates that at least 70% of employees working at food establishments and bars in California have been laid off or furloughed since the stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 were enacted in mid-March.
Of the more than 1,600 businesses that operate in downtown San Jose, only about 15% have remained in operation, according to Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association.
“So it isn’t surprising that we’ve got a lot of pain right now in the small business community, and efforts like this are a step in the right direction,” Knies said during the news conference. “We know it’s going to be different –we’re going to have spacing requirements and less tables inside.”
“…Necessity is sometimes the mother of invention, so this is a real opportunity for us,” he added.
In a memo penned by Liccardo and Davis, the pair propose allowing businesses, such as restaurants, bars, yoga studios and gyms, to apply for temporary use of streets, public parking spaces and recreation areas to serve their customers, as permitted under the county’s public health directive.
Their proposed plan would also waive sidewalk café permits and fees to allow restaurants and other businesses that comply with the county order to operate outside seating and service for customers.
The proposal directs city staff to work jointly with local business leaders to identify ideal locations, including public parks, alleys, plazas and streets, where the outdoor business activities could take place.
City officials and local business leaders hope that the proposed outdoor dining and commerce areas could become permanent fixtures of the city even after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
“We’ve already started to do this in little parklets — taking over some parking spaces in different areas of the city,” Davis said. “The way that I see this, it’s a good way to test it out in a lot of other areas and see where it could be permanent.”
Since the use of most of the city’s parks are restricted as such, Liccardo said any open-air dining operations in those areas would most likely require “more formal agreements that would ensure that there has to be really strong community support before we allow it to continue after a period of emergency.”
But in other locations, such as sidewalks and parking spaces, the mayor said, “if we think it works, I don’t see why we wouldn’t make it permanent.”
Expanding outdoor dining options are sure to pose unique challenges, such as permitting the consumption of alcoholic beverages off-premises of a restaurant or bar, for city leaders and business owners. To that end, city staff would work with state officials, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and local law enforcement agencies to find solutions.
