San Francisco’s parklets are right here to remain, however supes say they will shut in a single day

Outdoor parklets for restaurants and businesses will remain a part of the San Francisco cityscape after the pandemic.

The board of directors approved an amended version of the regulation regulating the Shared Spaces program on Tuesday, which will allow small businesses in particular to continue to use public sidewalks and parking spaces to strengthen their businesses – and to close these spaces at night.

Regulators disagreed on whether companies should close parklets overnight. Proponents of closing the parklets said that opening the parklets places a responsibility on business owners to clean the rooms of overnight clutter or to deal with the noise from people using the rooms after business hours. Proponents of keeping the parklets open overnight said they wanted to preserve the public space for public use.

Supervisor Ahsha Safaí introduced two last-minute changes on Tuesday to allow companies to close parklets overnight and keep the program running within the planning department, which issued parklet permits during the pandemic, rather than operating on public ones Relocate work. Both changes were passed, with night closing times set from midnight to 7 a.m.

“This program is one of the lasting legacies and a positive direction for our city,” Safaí said. “The biggest complaints were when people used these rooms after hours. It is more difficult to defend these spaces when they are only open 24 hours a day. “

Supervisors Safaí, Matt Haney, Rafael Mandelman, Gordon Mar, Myrna Melgar and Catherine Stefani voted for companies to be allowed to close the parklets overnight.

Haney, who represents the downtown neighborhoods hardest hit by outdoor homelessness and drug use, said business owners in his district told him that opening parklets overnight would be “significant challenges”. He feared that companies would be held responsible for problems like selling drugs in a parklet.

“If you asked for these to stay open overnight, they would be unusable for a lot of the small businesses I represent,” Haney said.

Superiors Aaron Peskin, Connie Chan, Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen and Shamann Walton voted for parklets to be open to everyone overnight to save space that is hidden from the public.

“We’re starting this incredible program that has changed the landscape of San Francisco,” said Ronen. “We’re giving up an extraordinary amount of public space to accommodate private companies, as I believe we should, but in return I believe the public should have the greatest possible access to it.”

Legislation requires companies to add a public bank nearby or in the parklet.

In recent months, the Parklet program has been put to the test as elected officials grappled with regulating the hundreds of outdoor areas that became a lifeline for small businesses during the pandemic. In particular, the board members wanted to ensure that parklets are accessible for disabled people and discussed the permanent privatization of public spaces.

At some point, Mayor London Breed threatened to put the Parklet program on the ballot if the board did not pass it.

Mom-and-pop businesses enjoy a two-year program fee waiver to aid in economic recovery. Fees range from $ 1,000 to $ 3,000 for a single parking space, depending on the type of parklet, and are charged for formula chains.

Some business owners were pleased to hear that the program they saw as a lifeline would continue.

“I’m gushing right now,” said Ben Bleiman, founder of the SF Bar Owner Alliance, which represents 475 bar owners in the city. “This is the biggest positive change for small businesses in my 20 years in San Francisco.”

Bleiman put up parklets in his two bars – Soda Popinski’s in Nob Hill and Teeth in the Mission – as soon as he could. The outdoor area at Nob Hill is “life or death,” he said, because without it he would not have been able to reopen the bar.

Bleiman was grateful for the latest change that allowed companies to close their parklets at night, arguing that not even city parks stay open all night.

“I thought this was a recipe for disaster,” he said. “The downsides were very obvious. We just have a street clean and homeless and crime and security epidemic in the city around our trade corridors. Having to keep these open at night would have set off a beacon for this activity that would have put small businesses in direct conflict with our neighbors. “

Bleiman did not understand the argument that parklets privatize public space, especially when they take up parking spaces. He stressed that there would still be enough space on the sidewalk for people, including disabled or elderly people, to pass by.

Shirley To, owner of the Bottoms Up Bar and Lounge on Mission Street near the Excelsior, had mixed feelings about the plan to make parklets permanent. Last year, the parklet she built in August enabled her to keep her business open.

But she had problems, including homeless people using the parklet “like a home” and leaving them to clean the room, she said. And in May a drunk driver rammed the parklet late at night, tore a hole in the wall, and hit a nearby homeless man. With repairs, she ended up paying more than $ 8,000 for the parklet.

The parklet was still open, but didn’t use it very much, she said, because her guests prefer to be indoors near the TV and protected from the wind and cold. She said she would give him another chance when the weather warms up.

“I’m still a little worried,” she said.

JK Dineen and Mallory Moench are contributors to the San Francisco Chronicle. Emails: jdineen@sfchronicle.com mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen @mallorymoench