• Home
    • About
      • Home
      • About the Site
      • The Authors
      • Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
      • Email me
    • Reviews
      • List of All Reviews
      • Best of Portland by year
        • Reader Survey: Best of Portland Food 2017
        • Best of Portland 2015
      • Steakhouse Roundup
        • Steakhouse Reviews Introduction
        • El Gaucho Steakhouse
        • Morton’s Steakhouse
        • Ringside Steakhouse
        • Ruth’s Chris
        • Steakhouse – Results
      • Product/Business Reviews
        • Retailer Reviews
        • Product Reviews
    • Topics
      • Food Writing
        • Alcohol Related
          • Beer
          • Wine
          • Spirits
        • April Fools Stories For Portland
        • Contests and Competition
        • Food Memories
        • Travel Writing
      • Authors / Book Reviews
      • Cheese information
      • Interviews: Honest dialog with people in the Portland food industry
      • Portland Food and Restaurant News and Discussion
      • Recipes
    • Guides
      • Guide to Portland coffee
        • Portland Coffee Guide
        • A Map of our favorite Portland coffeehouses
        • Reader Survey: Best Coffeehouses in Portland 2017
      • Guide to Local Wine Shops
      • Guide to Portland Bakeries
      • Guide to Portland Distilleries
      • Guide to Portland’s Beer Shops
    Portland Food and Drink

    Portland Food and Drink

    Restaurant News and Information For Portland Oregon Area Restaurants and Bars

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Send me email!

    Portland Pulls All Sidewalk Cafe Permits – Don’t Panic!

    By PDX Food Dude Last Update June 30, 2020 Leave a Comment

    If you, as a restaurant owner has gotten this message, don’t panic.

    NewspaperPBOT sent out the following email to restaurants with sidewalk cafe permits:

    Hi 2020 Sidewalk Café Permit Holder,

    Thank you so much for your patience while we are navigating all county, state, and national COVID-19 guidelines regarding the City of Portland Sidewalk Café permits.

    When Multnomah County reopens and enters Phase I, café dining on most sidewalks will not allow enough space to accommodate physical distancing rules. We must prioritize pedestrian travel on the sidewalks and clear any obstructions that will not meet physical distancing requirements. Sadly, this includes your sidewalk café tables.

    We have made the difficult decision to suspend ALL Sidewalk Café permits through October 1, 2020. All previously issued 2020 Sidewalk Café permits are now revoked and invalid, and we are no longer accepting any new sidewalk café applications.

    We understand that you are trying to keep your business open and your staff employed. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has launched the Safe Streets Initiative in response to the Covid-19 public health crisis. One pillar of this initiative is the Safe Streets |Healthy Businesses Initiative, with a Healthy Businesses permit, which helps businesses use more public space to conduct business safely. This is a free program that will allow businesses such as yours to operate in the right of way differently than your original Sidewalk Café permit, within certain parameters. This means you can apply to do things such as placing your outdoor café furniture in parking spaces. We encourage you to coordinate with other businesses in your area. Check with your neighboring businesses to see if they also need public right-of-way. Work with these other businesses or organizations to determine how much space you all need and how the public right-of-way could be used to benefit everyone.

    Please visit this link for more information about the Safe Streets | Healthy Businesses Initiative:

    https://beta.portland.gov/transportation/safestreetspdx/what-healthy-businesses-permit.

    We understand that you may have already paid your sidewalk café fees for the 2020 calendar year. The amount you have paid will be transferred to your 2021 Sidewalk Café renewal fees and you will not be charged for your 2021 permit renewal.

    We know this is an overwhelming time for you, so if you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. We are here to help.

    OregonLive posted an update this afternoon:

    On Friday, Portland transportation communications director John Brady said the message sent to sidewalk permit holders was a mistake.

    “We made a mistake,’ Brady said. “We need to own that and make it right.”

    Brady said the permit holders, which typically numbers around 800 citywide, have done nothing wrong and the city did not mean to give the impression it wants to reduce seating capacity outdoors.

    According to Brady, they will be sending out another notice as soon as possible.

    Related

    Category: Portland Food and Restaurant News and Discussion.

    Previous Post: « Feast Portland 2020 Canceled
    Next Post: Senate Passes Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility act »

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    © 2023 · PortlandFoodandDrink.com • See Terms of Service and Privacy Policy