January 23rd 2023: The City Of Huntington Beach has voted 4 to 3 to remove the outdoor street seating on the second block of main street. All of the outdoor patios have to be removed by March 1st. These areas were originally set up during the pandemic in 2020 as a way to help the businesses as indoor dining was disallowed for a long time.
The question Huntington Beach had to answer is the same many cities have had to answer is if to allow sidewalks or parking spaces becoming permeant seating areas after pandemic concerns have eased. Many people like to eat outside especially in Southern California with its amazing weather but walking down a partially blocked side walk is no fun either. Also if you are a business that cannot take advantage of the sidewalk dining having your customers having to park further away isn’t a good thing.
Opinion:
I enjoy sidewalk dining and would love to see it incorporated in to new retail and restaurant projects but blocking out a street and parking spaces other than for an event isn’t really an answer. Whatever the city had decided on this issue some people weren’t going to be happy.
