To Support Restaurants, Let’s Take Dining Outside

A scene from SOMA Street Food Park last year. We can turn blacktop spaces like this into outdoor dining, as long as proper social distancing and health procedures are in place.

When it is safe again for restaurants and cafes to open for sit-down service in San Francisco, the reality is that they will likely be limited to 25% to 50% of their prior capacity.

This is the right decision for the safety of the staff and patrons, but it also limits the business a restaurant can do on a given day. If they can’t make more room inside, they’ll need to make up for the revenue gap somehow. One answer? Using the space outside their restaurants.

Parking spaces can be converted to service areas quickly. Portions of streets can be closed.

With traffic down and parking utilization low, we need to recognize there’s a better use of our extra space right now. And it’s one that might just be what restaurants need to get back open.

Americano Patio along the Embarcadero & Belden Lane in the Financial District

We can learn from cities that are already ahead of us. Berkeley is set to vote on a process to make outdoor dining easier in a few weeks, while Cincinnati is closing portions of some 25 streets in their downtown area to allow for safe restaurant seating.

From the success of the Parklet program in San Francisco, we already know that when restaurants offer outdoor seating, revenues increase. But, that program is notoriously complex and costly. We can’t afford those pitfalls again.

In a city where it takes 11 permits to open a Food Truck, San Francisco needs to be shaken out of its bureaucratic slumber.

Leadership across the departments of Public Health, SFMTA, Public Works, and Economic and Workforce Development should be meeting right now to have an initial outline of the program out by the end of the week. Supervisors across Districts in San Francisco should already be engaging them based on the feedback of their small business constituents.

The process should be easy and transparent. When it’s safe for restaurants and cafes to open for service again, we need to make sure that as many as possible do so utilizing their outdoor space too.

As a candidate for District 3 Supervisor, I cannot imagine a District that is more well suited for outdoor dining than ours. Imagine North Beach alive with Italian fare in our storied alleys, Al-Fresco dining atop Nob Hill, or breath-taking views along our Embaracdero. That sounds like a uniquely San Francisco experience we can all support.

Outdoor dining at Calzone’s in North Beach is popular, but to return safely, tables will need to be spaced further apart. Let’s let Calzone’s use nearby parking or street space to have more room for safe outdoor dining. Picture — SFGate.

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Danny Sauter is a renter, non-profit director, and neighborhood organizer. He is running for District 3 Supervisor in November 2020. DannyD3.com