The Cost of Free Outdoor Dining
February 24, 2023
by Brooke Nelson, Town of West Hartford
Born out of necessity during the height of the pandemic, parklets and streeteries offer many communities a way to maintain social engagements and support local businesses at the same time. Now, they became expected features in many cities, large and small. As consumers, we prefer to spend time outdoors, surround ourselves with pleasant, walkable, vibrant settings, and access a variety of shopping and culinary experience.
Parklet is a form of seasonal public amenity, staged on curbside parking spaces and right-of-way. Parklet is sometimes referred to as a pocket park, small yet appropriate as a gathering place to enhance urban living.
Streetery is outdoor dining on the street, most likely in a space previously used for curbside parking. The word is a blend of “street” and “eatery”, with the spelling of streetery or streatery.
Both amenities are attractive to residents and visitors and they offer many benefits to a community:
Provide a vibrant and appealing environment given the right landscaping and furnishing.
Encourage community engagement to establish a sense of place, and a neighborhood feel.
Promote pedestrian traffic to benefit local commerce and promote economic development.
Today, the curb is experiencing higher demands than ever. We expect our curbside to do more than parking cars. As we re-purpose the curb and right-of-way to be community gathering spaces, how do we account for the costs to support and maintain these contemporary additions?
Parklets are seasonal. What are the costs to set up and remove seasonal parklets to assure safety and uniformity for public use?
What are the costs to maintain parklets? from housekeeping, and power washing to repairs?
What are the costs to store parklets when they are not in use during the winter?
Streeteries literally bring food into the streets. Foods are appealing to everyone, people, and pests.
What are the costs to control pests for sanitation and public health? Who would take on the responsibility of pest control and abatement taking place in the street? Landlord? Restauranteur? Municipality?
As restaurants gain additional seating capacity, they serve more food to more patrons and generate more waste. Can existing waste management infrastructure support higher waste volume?
With an emphasis on creating livable and walkable streets, we invite more pedestrians to linger in our urban centers. More foot traffic equates to more pedestrian trash and greater needs for ongoing housekeeping. Who would sign up for trash detail in the streets and right-of-way continuously?
With the curb being re-purposed to serve as community gathering spaces, we will have fewer on-street parking options – An obvious outcome as we prioritize people over cars. Some pedestrians are residents living in the area or nearby. Some pedestrians are visitors coming to the area.
Where do we expect visitors to park? Do we have adequate off-street capacity to make up for less on-street availability?
Do we have proper wayfinding signage to inform drivers on where to park?
Do we have the right pricing schedule to reflect changes in parking demand and supply?
Do we have a convenient transit system to motivate the public to leave their car at home?
Changing roles of the curb brings opportunities for municipalities to re-evaluate the value of their assets. Some municipalities are still struggling with the concept of charging for the use of their right-of-way, on-street, or on the sidewalk. Luckily, there is a new crop of entrepreneurs coming up with solutions on how to measure the use of the curb in order to monetize the asset. These start-ups apply technologies, emerging and established, like AI, GPS, GIS, cameras, and sensors, to study new trends happening at the old curb.
Whether we would admit it or not, the use of the curb has always been political for municipalities. The concept of monetizing the curb appears to present a challenge for some to grasp. Monetizing an asset is simply a means to manage the asset for appropriate use.
Do we have the political will to appreciate today’s value of the curb?
Do we have the political will to charge for the use of the curb for its worth?
Do we have the discipline to re-invest the proceeds back into the local community and account for our re-investments?
These dynamics are not new – Just a different take on classic Shoupian principles. As the role of the curb changes, in place of “the cost of free parking”, we should get real with ourselves on the cost of free outdoor dining… or any other use for the old curb.
