Parklets are mostly staying; 8 go away

We touched on the parklet initiative that helped many restaurants get thru the tough Covid times.  Parklets are popular and with the arrival of Spring they should see continued high use.  Today is the day restaurants have to start paying for a "cleaning fee" as we noted here in January.  $250 per month.  No April Fooling, today is the day.  So I checked with the city and so far eight establishments have decided to discontinue their parklets.

Back in December we noted staff said "Burlingame is currently home to 43 parklets occupying 88 parking spaces" so eight discontinued is about 20%.  That's not bad--about 80% keeping them even with the new fee.  Now let's hope the fees get put to the use they are intended to provide.  The restaurants are motivated to clean up inside the parklet.  It may even be a health code thing if the code was updated, but walking around town one sees a different story on the outside of the parklets.  Street sweepers cannot get into the nooks and crannies between parklets, curbs and cars so this will have to be a manual job.  Here is one example.

Comments

[Joe]

Parklets get an extension, but please let's have a shorter conversation about closing streets that ends with "no way".

A pilot program allowing Burlingame restaurants to place seating in parking spaces during the pandemic as a way to keep them in business will be extended another 18 months while city officials gauge community needs.

As of Sept. 6, there are 34 parklets in the Broadway and downtown districts. Those parklets account for a loss of 74 parking spaces.

The City Council meeting on Monday addressed issues and concerns regarding ADA compliance, aesthetics and cleanliness from the meeting as they formulated a plan before the Dec. 31, 2022 deadline.

“We think we should have a more citywide conversation whether these should be permanent, but we thought 18 more months with COVID in the rear[view] mirror we would be able to come to that conversation and say, yes they should be permanent,” said Vice Mayor Michael Brownrigg. “Heck, maybe one of these streets should be shut, [but] there can be a larger, wider conversation about how we want our streets to evolve, rather than making that decision right now.”

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/burlingame-parklet-program-extended/article_b83975ac-3bbc-11ed-a213-7f1ab46a86bf.html?utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1664028002&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

Click through for more on what the non-restaurant owners think about parklets, what might be done about the ones that are lightly used and cleanliness.

"Rent and cleaning fees from the 34 parklet users will add up to approximately $51,000 and $102,000, respectively, which would help offset city costs to maintain the current level of service per year, according to the staff report."

[Joe]

It appears that the bloom is off the parklet rose as at least three have been disassembled in the last two weeks: Il Fornaio, Stella Osteria and Velvet 48. There may be more, but those are the ones I have seen or heard about. In announcing the removal, one local owner noted that in addition to his staffing costs:

"it was expensive and getting more so. The aforementioned staffing was added to last year by the city in the form of rent, cleaning fees, insurance and inspection fees. There seemed to be never-ending maintenance and constant propane runs. And then the New Year's Eve flood deposited a layer of sand and sewage that hardened into a type of clay floor covering."

Those two parking spaces have returned to service.

[resident]

It looks like a new parklet is going in on the Ave in front of the coming-soon Urban Kitchen.

[Jennifer Pfaff]

'Looks like one has departed in front of Il Fornaio. That one was always a bit of a challenge to see around for oncoming traffic...Across the street, the biergarten at Twelvemonth (and bar) are both just beautiful, methinks.