Exposing Dining to the Street: Before and After

[Metro Jacksonville]

Exposing Dining to the Street: Before and After



As we mentioned during the mayor's race, there won't be a Whole Foods, Publix, Nordstrom, or 10,000 residents beating down the doors of downtown anytime soon.  However, not all is lost when it comes to implementing quick affordable downtown revitalization techniques.  Better exposing and utilizing what's already there is a solution that will stimulate additional foot traffic and create the unique "sense of place" that everyone claims they desire.  Today, we look to Chicago for cheap solutions that open existing businesses out to the street.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-sep-exposing-dining-to-the-street-before-and-after

[Noone]

Ennis, and Dan fantastic examples.
I'll always remember my wife and I attending pre Super Bowl XXXIX activities and to fully appreciate the new vibrancy of Downtown and the opening of the Northbank Riverwalk we parked at RAM and walked to the Landing for lunch. As we pass the Times Union Center they are setting up for an event. people are walking single file in both directions. We ate at the Landing went down Bay St. took the river taxi over to the then refurbished fountain. Enjoyed the nor easterly damp cold day as well as could be expected. We were going to stay and watch the fireworks. We walked everywhere. We now are making our return trip and that teeny tiny pedestrian pass through that is just highlighted in your examples was shut down with a security guard saying this is a private party and you need to go around. What a nightmare, We got out in front of the Landing and instead of enjoying our new Northbank Riverwalk we are now trying to figure out how to get back. Its drizzling, cold damp, rush hour traffic, construction cones, barricades, We ended up finally being able to connect at the Haskell building and even then it was because of the nice security guard and my plea that all we want to do is reconnect with that Riverwalk.

Tactable urbanism, Ennis I know I'm butchering what you suggested in another thread. But imagine the Food Trucks showing up at the Pier.
What you guys are talking about with the street is great. A temporary cluster at lunch then open it back up.

Same with the Pier. Funding-Piece of cake. Attach an amendment to 2011-560 which is an active piece of legislation Shipyards/Landmar "Hey Jacksonville!" Its the promised Pier. Don't give up on it.
Trucks show up 10-2
1. Taco truck
2. BBQ
3. Hot dog
4. Salad, vegtable, and Fruit truck- could also sell some produce.
5. Beer truck PeeJayEss I know your butt will be there. I hope your laughing. I'll be there with you.
6. Seafood truck- That could also sell some fresh seafood

But imagine the cluster of potential activity that could occur. People from the Southbank walking over the Main St. Bridge or cycling. Any boat traffic north or south could participate. Take the river taxi. Kayak to this temporary Urban Waterway Destination.
I can just picture right now North Miami catching an outgoing tide from Fishweir Creek by himself (LOL thats a long paddle) and then it would be an honor to join him throwing back a cold one on Jacksonville's Front Porch........Southern Style

And then after 2 pm everyone leaves and it reverts back to what it has been for years. A vacant waste.

 

[dougskiles]

A little bit of shade along the street would do wonders to encourage more street activity.  But for all the complaining I hear about the hot weather, all we seem to do is plant palms on our streetscapes.  Why is that?

I was in Savannah a few weekends ago and their oaks provide such a nice shade canopy for the city that people were outside everywhere.  It felt at least 10 degrees cooler.

[simms3]

Great ideas and not entirely unique to Chicago.  Even where I live further south the restaurants open up for 3 of the seasons in much the same way, and I have witnessed the process.  There is even a fast food concept near me called Evos (based in FL actually) that buys these decorative planters to put out and arrange in a square, filled with cheap but attractive hedges/flowering plants.  It's something that can even be recycled or moved/reconfigured, and obviously taken away for the winter.  Other places have these decorative pillars filled with water to weight them down.  The nicer restaurants have a more permanent setup as in the 5th/6th picture.


Aside from a few cold snaps, though, Jacksonville does not really get cold enough to have to do temporary outdoor seating.  40s at night with the heat stands is not bad at all as long as it's not breezy and assuming you have a coat on.  60s/70s during the day is "most ideal" for doing anything outdoors.

[thelakelander]

The purpose of showing the temporary outdoor seating concepts was to visually illustrate how you can quickly change the streetscape and enhance the exposure of existing businesses at the pedestrian scale level.   Despite our year round warm climate, there's no reason we can't employ such strategies to enhance downtown at street level and bring more exposure to what's already here.

[JeffreyS]

I hope this catches on it brings activity already happening into view.  This is the best advertising a cafe can have.

[thelakelander]

A little bit of shade along the street would do wonders to encourage more street activity.  But for all the complaining I hear about the hot weather, all we seem to do is plant palms on our streetscapes.  Why is that?

I was in Savannah a few weekends ago and their oaks provide such a nice shade canopy for the city that people were outside everywhere.  It felt at least 10 degrees cooler.

Yes, properly spaced street trees that actually provide shade are one of the most effective improvements a city could make to an urban streetscape.  Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, we've forgotten what the actual purpose of street trees and landscaping happens to be.  Now we spend more money landscaping highway medians than we do protecting the pedestrian from extreme weather conditions.

[dougsandiego]

GReat images. They are quick change artists!

I agree with the comment about canopy trees. At the very least, I think cities should alternate canopy trees with palms so some shade is provided along public thoroughfares.

[Tacachale]

I've said it before, but anyone who doubts that exposing commerce works should visit downtown Orlando. I'd say it's been a big factor in the stunning turnaround they've managed in the last 10 years or so. Hell, you don't even have to go that far. Just compare how successful our bars and restaurants are when they have sidewalk seating versus when they don't. Jacksonville is an outdoor town, we ought to encourage more of this.

[finehoe]

Here's an interesting article on DC's sidewalk dining:

D.C. feeds the alfresco frenzy
By Patricia Sullivan and Isaac Arnsdorf, Published: August 3
In these lazy, hazy days of summer, you have probably at least considered dining at one of Washington’s 450-plus sidewalk cafes. After all, it’s a perfect escape.

“You’re trapped inside all day long, so it gives you a chance to get outside and out of the A/C,” Jen Shoemaker, who works at National Geographic, said while reading a newspaper over a tuna sandwich at a nearby Potbelly Sandwich Shop. “It’s really a savior in the summer.”

Be thankful you live in Washington 2011. It was just 50 years ago, on Aug. 8, 1961, that the first sidewalk cafe appeared in the city.

After a trip to Paris, Harry Zitelman, the owner of Bassin’s restaurant at 13th and E streets NW, spent two years trying to convince the local authorities that European-style dining would work. Residents, at the time, were divided about an outdoor cafe’s benefits.

“I think Washington is just perfect the way it is,” socialite Gwen Cafritz told a reporter in 1959. “I don’t think the tempo in Washington is suited to sidewalk cafes. Nobody would have time to sit in them.”

City officials raised myriad objections, as described in a Washington Post story at the time: Sidewalk cafes expose food to “windblown foreign matter,” creating a health hazard and attracting birds and rodents, the city’s public health director said; too many cafes would cause a “cessation” of pedestrian traffic, forcing walkers into the streets, where they would get run over, another official cautioned; and tables and chairs would interfere with the deployment of fire hoses, the fire chief warned.

But the strongest objection came from Deputy Police Chief Howard V. Covell, who described sidewalk cafes as “a potential source of disorder.”

Pedestrians might brush against patrons, resulting in a punch in the nose, he told the city commissioners. Pickpockets would proliferate, unable to resist easily reached pocketbooks. Finally, he said, “this type of operation would provide a favorable setting for ladies of easy virtue as they ply their trade up and down the street.”

Nevertheless, Bassin’s, founded in 1939, succeeded in its efforts, setting out 15 tables under a striped awning, with a man dressed as a gendarme on the opening day. The growth in outside eateries was slow; by 1977 there were 85, perhaps due in part to pioneer Zitelman.

“I fought for sidewalk cafes for nearly three years, and now everybody is coming in on the gravy,” he said that year. “When restaurant owners asked me how my cafe was doing in the ’60s when there were few of them, I told them then that it was no big deal and that the cafe wasn’t doing well. I wasn’t being honest, I admit, but I didn’t want any competition.”

The Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District, which conducts a survey of sidewalk cafes in that area, found a double-digit increase since 2009: from 95 in 2009, to 123 in 2010, to 135 this summer. More than 3,200 seats are available.

Genevieve Marcus, who was eating a steak-and-cheese sandwich and reading a genetics book at a sidewalk cafe near her office on L Street NW on Wednesday, said it’s hard to resist outdoor seating. “If you can put a table outside, people are going to want to sit there,” she said.

Jade Yoho, 30, a Chicagoan visiting her sister here, said she liked eating outside at Lincoln restaurant on Vermont Avenue NW for the fresh air and things to watch.

“You can eat inside any day of the year if you want to,” she said.

City officials have come around, too. There are still permits to obtain, and a hearing must be held, but Chris Shaheen of the city’s planning department said that in the five or six years he has been on the public-space committee, fewer than five requests have been denied, mostly because a lack of adequate sidewalk space.

“I think there’s a growing awareness of the value of public space and people wanting to be out in public space,” Shaheen said.

“It really creates an enlivened streetscape,” said Matthew Marcou of the District’s Department of Transportation. “It makes people engage in their neighborhoods and helps with street safety.”

Allison Newhouse sat at sidewalk cafe on 17th Street NW Wednesday for the first time while enjoying a late salami-and-cheese lunch. A recent transplant from New York, she said she noticed outdoor restaurant seating as a nice feature of D.C. living.

“It’s easier here because there aren’t as many people on the sidewalk,” she said. “It’s way too crowded in New York.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dcs-sidewalk-cafes-once-a-hard-sell/2011/08/03/gIQA3OQ8sI_story.html

[Kiva]

Ennis,
      These were great examples. Very timely. "Council also enacted legislation to allow outdoor seating in the public rights-of-way in the designated area.

The affected area is along Bay Street from Ocean to Liberty streets; along Forsyth Street from Main to Liberty streets; along Adams Street from Newnan to Main streets; along Ocean from Bay to Adams; along Newnan from Bay to Forsyth; and along Market from Bay to Forsyth.

The purpose of the ordinance is to allow bars as well as cafes and restaurants to apply for and be granted sidewalk cafe permits adjacent to their business."

[thelakelander]

Finehoe, great find. I see a few quotes I can use in future stories and presentations on the topic.

[dougskiles]

Now we spend more money landscaping highway medians than we do protecting the pedestrian from extreme weather conditions.

I am really starting to dislike landscaped medians.  Great source of stress for me these days.

[comncense]

This would be a great idea for Olio to implement .

[Noone]

This would be a great idea for Olio to implement .

+1