Street eats plan does new normal in a new way

When planning something different, it never hurts to check how the “new” idea is working where it’s already been adopted.

Coun. Stephen Wright took that maxim to the extreme when he reportedly drove to New Brunswick, talked his way across a border that is closed to non-essential visitors and spent up to a week touring the province to see how restaurants there are doing.

It was an unnecessary see-for-yourself expedition that has New Brunswick’s premier fuming, but in the big picture Wright is on to something.

As a member of the local COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force, Wright has been promoting a plan to turn downtown sections of Hunter and George streets into temporary patio space for restaurants

The task force was set up to help businesses get back on their feet as pandemic controls relax, and the next phase of Ontario’s reopening will likely include restaurants, one of the hardest-hit sectors of the economy.

New Brunswick had relatively few COVID-19 infections in the early days of the pandemic (despite a recent setback) and chose to normalize more quickly than most provinces.

Restaurants reopened May 8. There were no specific rules or allowances. They had to stick to standard safety protocols, including a two-metre separation for customers, and ensure employees were safe.

Two weeks into the relax, Wright took off on his road trip. He reported long drive-thru lines and nothing but empty seats inside establishments that had opened.

The New Brunswick restaurant industry could have told him that. Three weeks into Phase 1 of the new normal, business is down 80 per cent. Nearly half of eateries haven’t opened and exactly half say they won’t survive three more months of these conditions.

Clearly, allowing restaurants to open at something like 30 per cent capacity didn’t work.

Realizing that “new normal” isn’t good enough, Fredericton, the province’s third largest city, just made it easier for restaurants to get patio licences and is waiving all fees. City officials in Saint John are being pressed to do the same.

In Peterborough, Wright says the task force will push to close restaurant-heavy sections of George and Hunter streets, leaving a centre traffic lane open for delivery vehicles. Restaurants could spread onto the street and sidewalk, creating more table space while meeting the two-metre rule.

That will not only provide more tables and a fighting chance at survival, it could make people less wary about venturing downtown. Dining al fresco doesn’t stretch two metres into a bigger separation, but if feels that way.

How safe consumers feel will be just as important as giving them the option to get back to frequenting stores, restaurants and other public spaces.

And until people feel they can safely “get back to normal,” the economic blow of the pandemic won’t fully be overcome.

The patio proposal is about doing the new normal in a new way. Regulators, the City of Peterborough included, will need to get on board.

All this will have to happen with safety precautions firmly in place. As New Brunswick just found when a doctor began spreading the virus, a single backsliding incident can undo any gains.

But fear of another infection spike shouldn’t stop well-planned, innovative steps to return the economy to life.

That will be true for restaurants, and for other businesses struggling to survive.