Did Mayor Karen Bass just save outdoor dining in L.A.?
After an outcry from city restaurateurs, a pandemic-era outdoor dining program that was set to end Wednesday was given a last-minute reprieve by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
On Tuesday, Bass announced an extension of the Al Fresco Temporary Authorization initiative, which for years served as a lifeline for struggling Los Angeles restaurants.
“After weeks of immense advocacy and mobilization, we received this great, hard-earned news for the L.A. independent hospitality sector today,” said Eddie Navarrette, executive director of the Independent Hospitality Coalition, a group that advocates for and supports independent restaurants. “It’s inspiring and truly thrilling to see the fight from this community be channeled into championing itself.”
Before the extension, Wednesday was to be the last day for restaurant owners within Los Angeles city limits to apply for the permanent Al Fresco Program, which will allow eating and drinking establishments to continue operating in outdoor spaces set up during the pandemic. The program was approved by the L.A. City Council in December, and the application process opened in February.
For months, Navarrette and others had pushed city officials to extend the deadline and to be a “little more sensitive towards what restaurants are going through right now.”
The industry is facing a crisis as new legislation, inflation, higher wages and pandemic fallout have chefs and owners worried for the future of mom-and-pop restaurants.
Navarrette, a consultant who has helped several restaurants apply for various permits throughout the years, also pushed city officials and the mayor’s office to make the program more accessible for restaurant owners so they don’t have to spend money to hire a specialist — usually an architect — to help them navigate the lengthy application process.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” Navarrette said. “There are so many other things restaurants are dealing with right now. Why the hell are we forced to have to hire an architect to deal with our outdoor dining right now, at a time when we have so many restaurant closures? Are they getting the memo? We are in a tragic time.”
Along with the extension, Bass directed officials at city departments to help business owners to ease the transition to the permanent program, promising to increase department services and resources to support dining establishments.
“We want restaurants and businesses to thrive in Los Angeles. It is with that commitment that I am announcing an extension to the deadline for businesses to transition to the permanent Al Fresco program, which carries forward the spirit of this vital program,” Bass said in a prepared statement. “I want to encourage businesses who still hold temporary permits to apply today. The city is ready to assist you.”
Restaurant and bar service fees were about to be outlawed before Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 1524, which allows the charges as long as they’re listed for customers.
Restaurant operators had welcomed the permanent program but urged city officials to push the deadline to apply, describing the process as too onerous and time-consuming.
“During this current economic environment we are living in,” Navarrette said, “[giving restaurants] only six months to file for a building permit to be compliant by July 31 is insane.”
In her announcement, Bass said city department officials would do the following:
- Review and process all completed applications for new and transitioning Al Fresco within 30 days of the date of submission. This includes departments communicating any necessary changes or guidance. As much as possible, city departments are to conduct all required reviews and approvals simultaneously, not sequentially.
- Issue conditional approvals for all completed applications with fees paid.
- Participate in a webinar, virtual meeting, or application clinic to assist project applicants and restaurant owners with Al Fresco guidelines to troubleshoot project and site plan issues
The extension comes as a relief for restaurant owners during a tumultuous time for the industry. Increased food prices, higher labor costs, and pandemic fallout have led to mass closures with more than 65 restaurants shuttering last year. The pace of closures continue as more and more restaurant owners call it quits.
Navarrette credits the city’s outdoor dining program for the survival of several restaurants during the pandemic.
The temporary Al Fresco dining permits allowed more than 3,500 businesses to skip the pricey, months-long process of applications, approvals and fees.
City officials have argued that the original intent of the pandemic-era program, which resulted in waivers granted via emergency orders, was to provide restaurant operators the ability to temporarily keep their doors open. But the emergency orders have since been lifted and city officials said they have to codify the program.
In addition, the mayor launched a Small Business Fee Reduction Program to financially assist businesses transitioning from the temporary to permanent program.
At the state-level, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 1217, which extended outdoor dining and other pandemic-era provisions until July 2026. Restaurants in unincorporated L.A. County also extended its temporary program to the same date.
Navarrette wonders why the city won’t follow suit or adopt a program similar to San Francisco’s Shared Spaces program, which provides something of a template that clearly outlines how to extend a patio permit for restaurants.
Still, he’s heartened by the latest news.
“I would be remiss not to mention how proud I am of Mayor Karen Bass for doing the right thing here — by acknowledging the challenges and harnessing her decision-making power to breathe life into a program that does so much for small business,” Navarrette said, “as well as the streets they occupy.”
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