Halifax Restaurants Call For Summer Street Closures. But Will They Happen?
HALIFAX — Local businesses struggling to stay afloat during Covid-19 could find their footing on the city’s streets. They just have to get the cars off of them first.
Business leaders in Halifax are asking the city to close some downtown roads to vehicle traffic this summer in order to make room for more outdoor seating.
For restaurants, in particular, extra tables spilling onto the city’s streets could be the only way to make enough money to survive this summer.
With strict public health measures still in place, Halifax restaurants won’t open for eat-in service any time soon. And even when they do it will only be with social distancing rules in place.
Karla Nicholson is the executive director of the Quinpool Road Mainstreet District Association.
She explains that spacing out patrons will force most restaurants to leave 50-70 percent of their seats empty. That many empty seats mean they can’t make enough money to cover their expenses.
Nicholson says expanded outdoor seating could relieve some of that pressure. Closing off streets to traffic means more space for tables and chairs, helping restaurants serve enough customers to keep the lights on.
“It could make the difference between being able to stay afloat and pay the bills, keep some staff on, or have to close,” she says.
Restaurants Can’t Pay Bills Without More Seating
Kelly Irvine is the owner and operator of Coburg Social Bar and Cafe.
She says that following social distancing inside Coburg will cut capacity by half and leave her restaurant deep in the red.
“We just can’t meet our costs, our monthly overhead bills, operating at 50 percent capacity or less,” she says.
Like many business owners, she has asked the Halifax council to put the brakes on some downtown traffic so she can set up chairs and tables.
“What we’re saying is with the summer approaching we should do the same thing they’re doing in cities around the world. We should have parts of streets, parks, parking lots sidewalks – whatever – available for restaurants to use to increase their restaurant space,” she says.
Irvine is already allowed to set up some tables on the sidewalk beside the restaurant, but she hopes they’ll be allowed to take over part of the street as well.
“We’re not even saying close off the street, we’re saying close half the street,” she says. In Coburg’s case, it wouldn’t be a huge traffic burden “but it would significantly increase our ability to have an outdoor space for our restaurant.”
Pressure To Open Runs Counter To Health Concerns, Councillor Says
By and large, Halifax council is open to the idea of closing off some streets to traffic this summer. But a few councilors are against the idea.
At a May 12 meeting Coun. Russell Walker cautioned his colleagues against making any changes that would affect downtown traffic too heavily.
“Don’t’ make it harder to get downtown by closing off a whole bunch of streets,” he said.
Coun David Hendsbee argued that opening streets to create public spaces was “premature.”
“These will become Covid hotspots, I think you’re going to have gravitation to these areas which may be problematic,” he said.
Councillor Richard Zurawski agreed, arguing that the council is being pressured to open things up too soon.
“There are huge business pressures to open things up, and they go counter to what I believe our primary function is, which is the safety and health concerns of our residents,” he said. “I think we’re way ahead of the game here.”
“I don’t want to see sidewalks opened up, I don’t want to see restaurants opened up, I don’t want to see people out there until we get a vaccine.”
Picnic Tables On Portland
Those advocating for street closures in Halifax aren’t compelled by those arguments.
Irvine points out there will be far less traffic than usual this summer. Fewer tourists, more people working from home, and less public transit will all help keep cars off the road.
Tim Rissesco, the executive director of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission, says health concerns can also be mitigated.
He says things like signage, table spacing, and the way the public spaces on closed-down roads are designed and programmed can all be used to encourage safe health practices.
“Even how you manage the space will temper the number of people that come out,” he says.
Like many business leaders and policymakers in the city, Rissesco is already thinking about how public spaces on closed streets will look.
Rissesco envisions streets entirely shut down to vehicle traffic with outdoor seating spilling into them. That restaurant-specific seating could be accompanied by picnic tables in the middle of the street that anyone could use.
He said these spaces could be more than just places for people to eat from nearby restaurants. They would also be places where anyone can just come to be outside.
“I see it as a public space, like creating a little plaza on the street,” he explains. “It’s a common area so people can come with their own groups of people and sit and just be outside for some time. Or they can purchase from one of our cafés or restaurants and bring their food there.
City staff are still in the early stages of consultations with business owners about where and how streets could be shut down. But locations like Argyle Street, the bottom half of Portland Street, parts of Robie Street, Spring Garden Road, and even some side streets in the Quinpool area are all likely candidates.
The Ideal Time To Take A Risk
Halifax Regional Council has already directed city staff to work with businesses to figure out where and how street closures could happen this summer.
Paul MacKinnon, the CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, says those changes need to happen quickly, efficiently, and with as little cost as possible to businesses.
He points to the swift changes the province made in March allowing restaurants to include alcohol in takeout orders.
“The idea of that a year ago would have been insane. No one would have ever thought that would have been possible in our lifetime,” he says.
But it did happen — quickly, too — and that helped restaurants survive in the early days of Covid-19.
MacKinnon says that’s proof bold policy action is possible in Halifax and argues there’s no reason the HRM couldn’t be just as bold with street closures.
HRM councilors, policymakers, and business leaders have cautioned that significant street closures won’t affect all businesses equally and that changes will have to be made thoughtfully.
There may be issues, for example, with some restaurants’ ability to continue curbside pickup and properly load and unload inventory.
MacKinnon acknowledges that but says Halifax businesses must be flexible and adaptable in order to survive Covid-19.
“Business is far from normal, so this is the opportunity to try some things,” he says, adding that, in most cases, street closures will be easy to reverse if they’re causing too much grief.
“Most of these kinds of projects are things that can happen pretty quickly, happen pretty cheaply, and can be easily reversed if they don’t work well,” he says.