Sidewalk Cafes Speculated to Lower Crime and Traffic

Public hearings will soon be held with the Transportation Department to develop rules for the newly approved reduction in licensing time and costs for opening more sidewalk cafes.  Currently, it takes months for a business to obtain a license and can cost up to $2,300.  Under the new 7 to 1 approval of the new permitting process, businesses are looking at a 10-day turnaround and an approximate $600 cost.

The goal is to spread cafe culture which is speculated to increase pedestrian life downtown and reduce auto traffic.  The newspaper articles about this subject have reported the inspiration to come from revitalization’s to similar sized cities such as Copenhagen Denmark and Melbourne Australia.  The owner of Tutta Bella has also been quoted in saying that having an outdoor diner reduced the amount of crime outside his Columbia City location due to customers who would call authorities when seeing illegal activity taking place from across the street.

While all of this may sound great, the blind community has debated the new city improvements by saying it could make it even more difficult to get around.  One person was quoted in saying, “It’s not that we can’t get around things, but the planning seems to be without consideration for pedestrians.”  At the same time, reducing auto traffic and increasing eyes on the street with more pedestrians may not necessarily be a bad thing.  Other suggestions made to increase pedestrian activity included having programs for street performers and food/flower street vendors.

What should this all do for the city?  It should really be great for about 2 months out of the year.  Seattle summers are already celebrated with several events and traffic can get notorious.  It should also give the downtown real estate market a boost considering that crime should be significantly reduced, and bring more entertainment to those who decide to take that walk they’ve been thinking about taking.

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