Parklets booming, but access a concern
Anyone strolling up Grant Avenue on a recent weeknight might have been tempted to ask, “What pandemic?”
The narrow North Beach street was packed with revelers dining and drinking in curbside parklets — outdoor dining structures that have become an enduring feature of San Francisco streets in the time of the coronavirus.
Some of the parklets were extravagant, others more austere. But taken together, they seemed to give off that ineffable quality that’s been in vanishingly short supply lately: buzz.
It’s an energy that restaurateurs are hoping will reinvigorate the city’s dining scene after months of stayathome orders. Parklets, once considered by some little more than glorified sidewalk seating, have now become a savior for a beleaguered industry.
The temporary structures could become a permanent fixture of urban life for the next few years. San Francisco’s COVID19 Economic Recovery Task Force released a 41point recovery plan that proposed keeping parklets and other permitted outdoor dining spots through 2023 as part of the city’s quest for a postpandemic revival. The move comes as restaurants in the Bay Area and across the country undergo an outdoor reinvention eight months into a pandemic that shows no signs of abating. Many people remain wary of indoor dining, including business owners themselves, many of whom said they are prioritizing worker safety over profits.
But as patios and parklets mushroom across San Francisco,
disabilityrights advocates say they hope the industry’s outdoor reinvention does not come at the expense of accessibility. The recent proliferation of parklets has stirred up familiar debates about sidewalk access and the use of public spaces for commercial endeavors.
Across town from the bustle of North Beach, Cole Valley mainstay Zazie was in the middle of its own buzzy evening. Diners sat cocooned in a plexiglass and wood structure spanning two parking spaces. While costly, the parklet has been “worth every penny,” said coowner Megan Cornelius.
“I would love for ( the parklets) to never go away,” said Cornelius, who said about $ 20,000 in materials, plastic dividers and decorative planters was invested for the parklet and patio. Like many restaurants, Zazie’s limited indoor seating has found few takers, Cornelius said.
The city had issued nearly 1,300 permits for curbside dining facilities and an additional 400 permits for road closures, parking lane pickup zones and other services through its Shared Spaces initiative as of Tuesday, according to Robin Abad Ocubillo, the program’s director.
That’s a huge increase from before the pandemic, when just 75 parklets were operating throughout the city. Applications have been steady since the program launched in late May, Ocubillo said, adding that more businesses are rethinking their outdoor infrastructure for the long term.
Most permits are approved within days, an expedited timeline that has pleased business owners more accustomed to red tape than speed. Ocubillo was unsure if the city would reach a point of parklet saturation. But for now, his office continues to accept and process applications as quickly as possible to help keep businesses afloat.
“It’s not about making money anymore, it’s about keeping the doors open,” said Dino Stavrakikis, who has operated Santino’s Vino on Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights for 32 years.
Daniel Max, 79, who was eating antipasto at Santino’s on a recent evening, said he eats out nearly every night these days. He said his choice is as much about supporting neighborhood restaurants as it is about getting a change of pace — although the city’s famously foggy weather doesn’t always cooperate.
“It’s like Anchorage, Alaska, at night,” Max said.
Heaters and lanterns keep diners happy into the evening hours, but disability rights activists are sounding the alarm about the risk of overcrowding sidewalks. They say the combination of equipment and traffic imperils people with mobility issues, for whom obstructed sidewalks are not just inconvenient, but unsafe.
Disability rights activist Tara Ayres was wheeling down the sidewalk recently when she found her path blocked by the chairs and planters of a curbside dining establishment.
Rather than squeeze through the crowd, she was forced to backtrack to another sidewalk.
“I can’t step off the curb to avoid people; that’s not an option for me,” Ayres said.
People with disabilities support struggling small businesses both as customers and as community members, said Lana Nieves, executive director of the Independent Living Resource Center. They just want a voice in the city’s changing outdoor landscape.
“If commerce is going to operate in a different way than it traditionally operates, those changes have to take into consideration the wide needs of the community, not just the needs of ‘ regular people,’ ” Nieves said. “If this is the new normal, the new normal absolutely has to be accessible.”
Ocubillo, the Shared Spaces director, said the city’s guidelines for parklets and outdoor dining explicitly address access for people who are impaired in vision or mobility. The Shared Spaces permitting process takes universal accessibility “very seriously,” he said.
Instances of sidewalk overcrowding, wheelchair inaccessible parklets and other safety concerns can be logged with the city’s 311 customer service call center, Ocubillo said. Possible violations will be checked out by enforcement officers and brought into compliance if necessary, although the city is trying not to be “overly punitive,” he added.
Cornelius said she never envisioned having to completely revamp Zazie’s business model just two months after she and two other longtime employees bought the restaurant earlier this year. The restaurant has put “a lot of consideration” and care into its parklets to accommodate diners with disabilities, as well as those who remain wary of communal spaces.
Zazie neighbor and longtime patron Gavin Kelly, a contractor, built the Zazie’s parklet at cost, forgoing his usual fee in an effort to help the struggling restaurant. It’s just one example of the camaraderie that has flourished amid the pandemic, Cornelius said.
The community’s spirit has been on full display in recent weeks as oncedesolate streets begin to regain their vibrancy. It’s a powerful antidote to months of pandemicinduced isolation, the Zazie owner said.
“I’m seeing a lot more happy people,” she said.