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Permanent Sidewalk Seating: Yes or No?

Posted by Aubrey Nagle on July 10th, 2012

The Daily News’s resident grumpy old man Stu Bykofsky complained about sidewalk cafes again. He admonished Philly restaurants for ignoring the Philadelphia Code (and the city for not enforcing it) that states a certain amount of space must be left unobstructed on each sidewalk for pedestrians. Another law states that restaurants cannot install permanent outdoor seating – much like the anchored counters outside of Amis, above – yet the only punishment is a $75 fine that doesn’t get worse with repeat offenses. He finds this outrageous.

Do you, as the great pedestrians and citizens of Philadelphia also think that sidewalk cafes should be more heavily regulated, or banished altogether? Do they pose an extreme obstacle to you? Answer in the poll below.

What's your opinion on Philadelphia's sidewalk cafes.

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Amis
412 S 13th St, Philadelphia, PA

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    This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Food Nerd News, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

    • Dr. Funkenstein

      In related news, cantankerous senior tells a group of know-nothing, no-good kids to “git off [his] dang lawn!”

    • no

      I don’t understand why you’d WANT to sit on the sidewalk. You have to deal with pedestrians dodging around your tables and hobos begging you for money.

    • LJensen

      In places where the sidewalk is wide enough to support it, sidewalk cafes are great! But when there’s a four foot sidewalk and it’s covered with tables, people who live nearby have to walk in the street, which is challenging and dangerous, especially when we’re loaded down with bags of groceries, etc. There should also be some regulation for umbrellas at sidewalk tables that they can’t be at eye-level for pedestrians. Common sense here, people.

    • Will

      I actually like sidewalk seating, but agree that they should submit seating plans for approval. Not every sidewalk in this city can hold a cafe as well as letting pedestrians by!

    • http://about.me/louperseghin Lou

      Where the sidewalk is wide enough, businesses should have to submit an outdoor seating plan and adhere to it. There’s no reason to limit it altogether, but when a single-file line of pedestrians get forced through a narrow chute it’s totally obnoxious.

      I also don’t think you should be allowed to have tables on both sides of the sidewalk. I’m looking at you Rittenhouse.

    • mazza3

      pretty much echoing what mostly everyone has said (sidewalk seating is good, but not always done right) but just wanted to add one point. a very close friend is wheelchair-bound and outdoor seating that prevents the disabled from getting from point a to point b should not be permitted.

    • Anthony

      When you live in a neighborhood that opens its sidewalks for weekend brunch and patrons aren’t just sitting, but standing around and talking and the waitresses have their butts in the middle of the sidewalk and people are waiting to be seated, it makes it very difficult to appreciate the pleasures of outdoor dining. Living in Northern Liberties, there are a couple key businesses that are more problematic than others (yes, I’m looking at you Dos Segundos). It depends on the width of the sidewalk. I mean, I live here and I should be able to walk down the street unobstructed and without worry that you’re going to turn around and spill huevos rancheros and mexican coffee all up on my junk.

      I’m all for the proper regulation of outdoor seating but just typing that makes me sad. Who the eff wants to regulate outdoor seating? It’s unfortunate that there are so many inconsiderate people out there and we all have to suffer because of it.

    • Buckethead

      I don’t mind sidewalk seating but it’s a sidewalk, pedestrians come first. Most places that do it obey the rules and are not a problem. The Cantina on E Passyunk used to be a horrible offender, tables all over the place with room for maybe one pedestrian to weave their way through the tables. They have since moved those tables to the corner lot.

      But as you can see from the guy in the blue shirt who’s walking away from the camera in the photo above, Amis has taken a sidewalk that was pretty small to begin with (there are two trees in the sidewalk directly across from these two bars) and made it so narrow that two people can’t comfortably walk down it side by side. And that bar is permanent, blocking the sidewalk 24/7 whether the restaurant is open or not.

      Also, worth mentioning, from Stu’s article:

      –
      Amis manager Martin Cugine tells me he installed the narrow counters, rather than tables, to leave more space for pedestrians, unaware he was breaking the law. He promises the problem will be fixed fast. “I’m on your side,” he says. “We want to be a better neighbor.”
      –

      Yet today he’s retweeting Marc Vetri: “Come to Amis tonight, sit outside and see what that old fart Stu Bykranky is complaining about.”

    • hiki

      I’m curious what happens with those permanent tables during the winter. Wouldn’t it make shoveling snow off the sidewalk that much harder?

      All sidewalk cafes should have some accountablity for placement of tables. There is a middle ground, one that Byko does not represent.

    • Tex

      Outdoor dining adds some much-needed dolce vita to this city, and even at its worst there’s room to walk through without walking in the street. The same can’t be said for construction crews that are allowed to block entire sidewalks even when their work doesn’t require them to. New York City doesn’t allow that, and Philadelphia shouldn’t either. That practice is a far more suitable target for this kind of criticism.

    • http://about.me/louperseghin Lou

      I actually would prefer what they have at Amis to most sidewalk setups. It’s much less intrusive than the tables at Parc, and makes walking more comfortable. Despite it being a little narrower, it seems better because you won’t have the person whose decided to kick back and shove their chair into the middle of the small walking area.

    • Joe K

      No one is arguing that we need “dolce vita” in this city. And *most* places are reasonable when it comes to the outdoor seating. But some of these places are just absolutely ridiculous. Amis, Dos Segunda, Audrey Claire, Mixto — just to name a few — are using an absurd amount of sidewalk space. It’s simply not fair. To pedestrians. To businesses who follow the rules. To people who live in these neighborhoods. Look, no one’s saying shut it all down down, but you have to draw the line somewhere. What next? Places start annexing street parking spots? But it’s OK as long as they pay the meter and it’s drawing in business?

      And just because construction crews get away with it, doesn’t make it acceptable for anyone doing anything less than that! And let’s not forget that when construction crews are blocking an entire block, it’s only temporary.

    • 3rd&Brown

      I like the Amis setup. I’m shocked Stu Bykofsky has a job. With all the cuts at newspapers, this cantankerous miser who does nothing informative at all manages to hold on. I wonder what he gets paid for the drivel he writes.

    • Gandhus

      When compared with strollers, slow walkers, low-lying branches and the occasional rancid puddle – sidewalk seating shouldn’t even register as an obstacle to the pedestrians of Philadelphia.

    • Dan

      What we need is…less cars. Simply limiting many of our roads to one lane a la Pine St., expanding the sidewalks and putting in permanent barriers for bike lanes would make us a model for a culturally and physically healthful U.S. city. I am sick of these old, fat and unhealthy people using the city as a parking lot so that they can drive way to fast to and from their McMansions in their late model sedans or suv’s without having to take a step amongst us urbanites (read minorities, gays, hipsters, etc.). The aging baby boomers put us in this mess with a me first mentality of their convenience. They are squandering our treasure on medications and late life healthcare for their portly arses rather than spending a dime on our infrastructure and schools. The result has been an incredibly selfish and short sighted and unhealthy society that equates absolute freedom with right to drive cars to and from their jobs and shopping malls. Let’s stop letting them drive us of off this cliff…

    • Mike

      Stu is a heartless old man who hates the younger demographic that is revitalising the city. Most of his articles are a quixotic screed against cycling. Sidewalk seating is part of what makes a city great.

      That being said, having tried to navigate city streets with people whose mobility is limited, there needs to be some oversight to make sure they can walk safely. Most people can easily step off a six inch curb, and cut between parked cars, but some can’t.

    • Pierre Herme

      I figure I’m entitled to pinch waitresses on the derriere when I get crowded out on the sidewalk so it’s not a totally bad thing

    • JA

      Hey Dan – hate to break the news to you – but those that physically live outside the city, “but use it” for work or play probably provide as much if not more money to the city coffers than those of you who live in and claim ownership of it.

    • Dan

      JA, you may be paying more taxes (probably not more than me but more than many), but your lifestyle choices are a net drain. Destroying our environment, wasting our resources and living unhealthful lifestyles which we all need to pay for in our federal payroll taxes and healthcare premiums. Virtually every other developed country assigns costs to these externalities, but in our self-centered car culture so many people believe that it is an intrinsic right to scorch the earth and ruin their bodies for free.

    • Abby

      I can’t even tell you how many clueless a-holes I’ve yelled at over by Rouge on Rittenhouse. I walk down 18th quite often, most of the time with groceries and other parcels, and people are constantly loitering around the tables and blocking the entire sidewalk. I get extremely perverse pleasure from screaming these fools out of their reverie and seeing their shocked and occasionally indignant expressions. I’m not shy to tell some douche that he’s blocking the whole effing sidewalk.

      If they did away with the outdoor seating I might not get to lash out angrily as often, which would be sad. Guess I’d have to save my rage for the sidewalk bikers.

    • Helen

      I have no problem with sidewalk seating, within reason. There doesn’t seem to be much of that around, however. Running the gauntlet down 18th and Rittenhouse is abysmal and those restaurants really need to get their acts together (as do their patrons).

      I’d also prefer that pedestrians such as myself don’t have Stu “Eff Your Bike Lanes” Bykofsky as their advocate. Thanks, but no thanks for your voice on this one, Stu.

    • JA

      Dan, Wow! So if you live outside the city limits you automatically live an unhealthy lifestyle? Have you been away from the “safe” blocks of Center City? There are more unhealthy lifestyles than you could count!

      You seem to have this notion that you and those you think you speak for should be the gatekeepers. Many generations before you who actually built what you claim to own. As they made good, many moved away from this city – this city is as much there’s as it yours.

      And as you said the natural resources you speak of are “OURS” NOT “YOURS”!

      If someone is unable to live the lifestyle that you choose in the heart of Center City what right do you have to judge their lifestyle and/or their choice?

      The city belongs to the region, without it – Center City would be Camden.

      For the record I live within the boundaries of the city.

      Also for the record – I’m pro outdoor seating with the right of way going to pedestrians with zero obstructions.

    • Michael G

      13th Street between Locust and Walnut is now a complete cluster with Green Eggs and Woody’s. Woody’s is a design issue between the roped off tables and the trees it’s single file every few feet. At Green Eggs it’s tables on both sides and the waiters(servres and people waiting). i love the outside tables and the European feel but there needs to be sane regulations and you shouldn’t need a civil engineer to walk down the Street or have to dodge cars in the Street because of a places greed.

    • DaveFame

      I wish Philly restaurants and cafes would start using curbside seating platforms in front of or on the side of their buildings. I have seen this in many other cities and it makes for a much more enjoyable experience for the patron and the pedestrian. But then again it is Philly and this makes too much sense. Lets just cram as many tables on the sidewalk as we can.

    • Jagoffs

      Streets Department is one of the most corrupt and inept departments Philadelphia has and that’s saying alot

    • Mike

      DaveFame – That might work for new construction, but most Philly restaurants are reclaimed spaces that wouldn’t really allow for that.

    • Jill

      Also generally in favor of sidewalk seating. However, if you provide it and don’t leave enough space for a wheelchair to pass through easily, you should be fined heavily and shamed publicly.

    • Brian

      In general I love sidewalk seating but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get totally annoyed (okay sometimes intimidated) by the lack of space and the scene outside of Rittenhouse’s bastions of douche.

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