Brewer speaks on year-round sidewalk cafe enclosures
Brewer explains her bill makes it legal for sidewalk cafes to operate year-round with covers during cold months, helping restaurants maintain workforce and serve diners, and notes restaurants have a choice between seasonal and year-round options.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
You might have seen that at some situations, the outdoor cafe that's on the sidewalk, not the one that's the one in the roadway, has tables and chairs.
But as soon as it gets cold, it goes in because there is no ability to stay out legally.
I've seen some that are out there legally, but they're not.
They're not.
They're illegal.
And so this bill would mandate that it is possible to be year-round.
And you could put, I would call it a cover, over the outdoor sidewalk cafe.
You sometimes go to a restaurant or a store and you'll see like a front door and it has cover.
It would be something similar to that.
And I have to say the reason we're doing it is similar to what Councilmember Ressler said, which is we want these restaurants to do well.
We want them to be able to maintain their workforce year-round so that they can, in fact, have good jobs.
And we want to be sure that diners have the opportunity to be year-round.
Some of these restaurants obviously have both sidewalk and roadway, but most have...
A sidewalk cafe.
That's what we've known for years.
And the restaurant industry, hospitality lines in particular, is very happy about this bill because it makes it legal and makes it clear as to what you can or cannot do with your outdoor sidewalk cafe.
So I'm very excited to have this.
I think the fact that it
compliments what Councilmember Ressler, he forgot one point though.
The issue too is that people have a choice, remember that part?
You forgot that.
They have a choice whether they want to have the roadway or not.
They can do seasonal, because some of the folks in my neighborhood, I called them at 11 o'clock at night.
What the hell are you doing?
You're not making a choice?
And he said he is.
So thank you, Councilmember Ressler, for the choice.
Is it seasonal or year-round?
Same with the Sidewalk Cafe.
You have a choice, but you can be legal, and you won't have to worry about tickets as long as you do the right thing.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Councilmember Brewer.