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Girard Avenue angles for new sidewalk cafe district
A new cafe seating district would clear the way for Girard Avenue's burgeoning dining boom to spill over onto sidewalks.
Girard Avenue angles for new sidewalk cafe district
Those outside the restaurant industry may not realize quite how Kafka-esque the process of (legally) putting a few chairs and tables on the sidewalk really is. But, in fact, any restaurant located outside of a designated sidewalk seating zone such as exists in Center City actually needs to get City Council to pass a law — OK, an ordinance — to allow it. That's in addition to haggling with the Streets Department over permits and dimensions.
Now, Girard Coalition is working with Councilman Darrell Clarke to bring a new sidewalk seating zone to Girard Avenue from Eighth Street to Susquehanna Avenue. "It's about giving restaurants on Girard Avenue the same rights that restaruatns in Center City have," says the Coalition's Corey Bell.
They're in the process of gathering support form community groups, and they already have 10 restaurants that have signed on and received preliminary approval from the Streets Department pending the new legislation. (There are, of course, a few restaurants on Girard that seem to be putting tables out without the necessary permits.) Bell hopes that the ordinance will be in place to begin seating customers outside by next spring, but says "it's a mystery as to how long it could take."
The Center City District, where an outdoor cafe zone has been in effect since 1995, has 273 cafes, which represents a 10 percent increase just since 2010, according to the District.
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