Miami evaluates permanence of restaurants with outdoor services

In the city of Miami, the possibility of allowing restaurants and businesses to extend their outdoor services indefinitely was discussed this Thursday. A very useful measure that allowed restaurants and cafes to survive restrictions during the pandemic.

Lazaro is excited about the opportunity to continue serving his customers outdoors. He says it was during the pandemic that saved his business. “One of the main things that has helped us to overcome this is to be able to use the sidewalks for tables because they cannot be inside the tables, when people see a person hit, you always have to keep your distance because the premises are small in the Downtown ”.

Miami commissioners analyzed whether the permits for the city’s restaurants and businesses to extend their service outdoors, and that they could be fixed. An approved interim emergency measure to assist during the pandemic.

“I really create an opportunity for us to adapt to a situation that seems to have no way out,” recalls Mario Magalhaes, from Las Palmas Cafetería.

Miami discute si los servicios al aire libre de los restaurantes pueden ser permanentes https://t.co/zmZfXeISsT

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For his part, the Miami commissioner, Manolo Reyes, specifies that “when the pandemic came, 50 percent of the restaurants were allowed to operate. I proposed that it be allowed to operate on the sidewalks and in some exceptions that might have it in some of the street parks, what we are doing is proposing that this be made permanent ”.

Commissioner Reyes says the proposal would primarily help restaurants in the Downtown area affected by the Flagler Street construction.

“The Flagler Street that have suffered from the reconstruction of the street … that they are not charged for the permits, that an exception be made in those expenses, but our intention is to make this ordinance permanent,” says Reyes.

But the tables and chairs outside, could imply the closure of some streets. In Coconut Grove, according to commissioners, only Fuller Street merchants approve of the measure. In Downtown, where construction forced the closure of some roads, they consider the proposal a relief after running out of tourists and customers who were absent when the offices closed.

Everything happened “from one day to the next, on the 14th we were working and on March 15th it disappeared, the offices and everyone left,” Lázaro recalls the start of the pandemic. “That helps a lot with the tables outside and if this were permanent, it would be a total success.”

So far, business owners have renewed permits every three months. Permits for the Flagler area will be issued to eligible businesses