Having a meal or drink at an outdoor table at a city restaurant or pub is one of the pleasures of summer — a pleasure that’s no longer taken for granted thanks to Covid 19, which has kept most people cooped up at home for the past three months. As the state gradually eases up on restrictions — phase three kicked in for the mid-Hudson region on June 23 — and the summer weather beckons everyone outside, Kingston has responded by introducing a plan that allows businesses to expand their facilities onto the street at certain times, making it easier to fulfill the state’s social-distancing requirements and to compensate for the limited capacity of their indoor dining and drinking facilities permitted in phase three.
“The Open Streets idea is meant to help businesses by giving them more space to spread out, social distance and add more capacity under COVID guidelines,” noted mayor Steve Noble, who introduced the program earlier this month. “We want our businesses to get back up and running as smoothly and quickly as possible with as many resources as the city can offer. If any businesses need guidance or assistance, I encourage them to get in touch with my office.”
So far, two restaurants, Ship to Shore and Savona’s, both in the city’s waterfront Rondout district, which traditionally bustles this time of year, have taken advantage of the program, which requires the submission of minor paperwork and agreement to abide by a set of guidelines.
While both restaurants have outdoor tables on the sidewalk and on their adjacent patios, each will be expanding the dining space into the four parking spaces in front of their premises from nine a.m. until 10 p.m. In addition, starting June 28 Dock Street from the intersection with Broadway to the Gallo Park parking lot will be closed to traffic every Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., for the rest of year. (The remaining segment of Dock Street will convert to two-way traffic so that motorists can access the parking lot from Abeel and Ravine streets.)
Orders will remain in place
The closings of the street and parking spaces by executive order of the mayor are issued for a period of 30 days. Communications director Summer Smith said the mayor planned to reissue the orders every 30 days through the fall.
A couple of other restaurants are in the process of submitting the paperwork for taking over a portion of the public roadway, she added. Smith also pointed out that many city eateries, including Tubby’s, Dietz Diner, The Crown, Ole Savannah, Armadillo and Santa Fe, are utilizing their traditional patios, decks, or sidewalk space, giving residents and visitors options for outdoor dining.
Of course, this year outdoor dining won’t be quite the same. All restaurants and bars must follow New York State Department of Health guidelines, which require all staff to wear masks, customers to wear masks when they’re not seated, tables to be spaced at least six feet apart, and customers to social distance when accessing indoor restrooms. To participate in the city’s Open Streets programs, which is open to retail establishments as well as restaurants, businesses must comply with those standards as well as others outlined in the city’s “Restaurant and Retails Outdoor Expansion Guide.” They must submit to the city their State Liquor Authority licensed certificate, a site sketch and a certificate of liquor liability insurances required for the use of public space. There is no fee, and permission to take over a portion of the roadway or other public space is valid through the end of October.
In addition to the state DOH guidelines, the six-page city guide specifies such requirements as the placement of tables six feet apart from the sidewalk, providing sanitizer to patrons and employees, placement of barriers no higher than four feet along the perimeter of the roadway, appropriate lighting if the space is to be used at night, no closed tents, opening of a pedestrian pathway between the barrier walls, and six feet of clearance on the sidewalk. Contactless ordering and payment processes are recommended. Live entertainment is prohibited.
Surveys support the concept
Two surveys to find out if people liked the idea of corralling street and parking space for pedestrian shopping and dining indicated widespread support. In the survey targeted to the general public, 303 out of a total of 366 people said they would take advantage of outdoor dining.
That survey also asked people which times they thought were best for outdoor dining and shopping. The majority, 193 respondents, chose all day Friday through Sunday, with 109 opting for evenings Friday through Sunday and 89 choosing Thursday through Sunday evenings (the remaining choice, all day Thursday through Saturday, garnered 74 responses).
The other survey was directed at business owners to gauge their reaction to how closing parking spaces or streets would affect their business. A vast majority — 248 out of 336 respondents — responded that closing parking spaces on the street would have little or no impact on them. Nor would closing the street to traffic during regular hours (249 said it would have little or no impact).
As the city government handles more requests, it might be implementing more road closures to encourage more pedestrian shoppers and outdoor dining.
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