Mayor Brandon Johnson is breathing new life into Lori Lightfoot's stalled plan to make the city's pandemic-era outdoor dining program permanent.
Mayor Brandon Johnson is breathing new life into Lori Lightfoot's stalled plan to make permanent an outdoor dining program that was a lifesaver for restaurants and bars during the darkest days of the pandemic - but in a way that preserves input from local City Council members.It allowed a three-block stretch of Clark Street to be closed to make way for expanded outdoor dining.
It will eliminate the streamlined, automatic renewal process and require sign-off from the local alderperson every year. Although there is no way to recoup outdoor dining business lost during this glorious stretch of sunny days that is expected to continue over Memorial Day weekend, the Chicago Department of Transportation will immediately begin accepting permit applications.
"By nixing automatic renewal, that ensures that, every year, applicants will have to go to the city to seek a permit. That ensures that the community will have an opportunity to address any issues that may have arisen" in the past year. "The outdoor dining program was also wildly popular with neighborhood residents, commuters and tourists - transforming once noisy streets into calm, quiet pedestrian spaces and piazzas for the public to enjoy."
"Overly ambitious proposals that place an undue burden on infrastructure, loading and the right of way will be rejected or amended," he wrote.
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