Seattle City Council committee approves plan to extend street dining permits through 2022
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Street dining plaza at Eden Hill Provisions in Queen Anne.Alexa T. via YelpShow MoreShow Less
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Street and sidewalk cafes could become a more permanent fixture of dining in Seattle thanks to new legislation proposed this week by the city council.
Sponsored by Councilmember Dan Strauss and Council President Lorena Gonzalez, Council Bill 120068 would create a pathway to permanency for the city s cafe streets pilot program.
The city launched a pilot program last July offering free sidewalk and curb space permits to help small businesses stay afloat amid coronavirus restrictions which limited indoor dining. Those licenses were initially temporary, and the permit program was later extended through the winter to October 2021 to continue to aid these businesses.
West Seattle Blog editor
West Seattle has no full-time homeless shelters. It has one city-sanctioned tiny-house encampment, usually at capacity with about 50 residents. Just about everyone else living unhoused in West Seattle is in a tent, or a vehicle, or maybe a doorway.
Right now, one group of tent residents on a South Delridge business-district sidewalk has been drawing increasing attention.
The site has grown steadily over this spring, starting on the east side of the building on the northwest corner of Delridge/Roxbury, now extending onto the sidewalk outside businesses on the north half of the block, more than a dozen tents in all, covering most of the sidewalk all the way to the curb.
President Joe Biden s infrastructure plan is an ambitious, $2.3 trillion proposal that would see an overhauling of airports, highways, electrical grids, water systems, school construction, public transit and clean energy.
Republican leaders who countered Biden s mammoth plan with their own $568 billion infrastructure framework don t see eye to eye with the administration on the amount of money that needs to be spent, nor where it comes from, but have acknowledged the need for infrastructure improvements.
Despite the lack of clarity on how to reach an agreement, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun to lobby for a share of federal infrastructure money to reach their constituents.
University Bridge is one of the bridges ranked in poor condition and in need of significant maintenance work. (Photo by Doug Trumm)
On Wednesday, the Seattle City Council’s transportation committee will vote on Chair Alex Pedersen’s amendment altering spending priorities for the $20 vehicle license fee (VLF). Passed by the Council in November, the fee is expected to pull in $7.2 million per year.
While Pedersen’s amendment appears to have five votes via the five sponsors backing it Pedersen, Andrew Lewis, Lisa Herbold, Teresa Mosqueda, and Debora Juarez a committee recommendation isn’t assured. Only Pedersen and Herbold are members of the transportation committee, while Juarez is an alternate. Plus, some sponsors could change their mind and oppose the plan. Six Council votes and the Mayor’s signature are needed to ultimately approve bonding, and it’s not clear he has them.