Thank you. Good morning -- good afternoon, excuse me. Good afternoon, Chairperson Young, Vice-Chairperson Squilla and fellow Councilmembers. My name is Jason Evans. I own and operate JD Evans Solutions, a consulting firm that provides services to bars and restaurants in the City. I've represented the Tavern Group, owners of Tavern on Camac, U Bar and Otto's. In addition to other bars and restaurants in the Gayborhood, I worked with Councilperson Allan Domb's office creating the original streetery bill and represented the Tavern Group participating in the City's pilot program for outdoor dining during the pandemic. This collaborative effort brought businesses together along with multiple departments of Philadelphia government, including Commerce, Streets, Licensing and Inspection, Health and OTIS or the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability to identify and resolve any outstanding issues during the weekly calls. That system worked. The process worked and it all worked well. The City gave feedback and helped businesses succeed. I appreciate the opportunity to share our successes and challenges in navigating Philadelphia's Streetery and Sidewalk Café programs. We were pleased when City Council passed the Streetery bill 2 to make permanent changes supporting small business. Many of these changes came about as part of the pandemic reopening and recovery, and several bars and restaurants were able to remain in business as part of these programs. Given these successes, we hope today is a helpful conversation to inform and rectify the challenges businesses face with navigating the Outdoor Dining program process, specifically the application. I would like to talk about the application process and what follows. The process seems to be decentralized and can be quite challenging for those who do not have experience in navigating multiple City departments all at once. For example, I have this email chain here which has over 32 messages between myself and the City over the course of one year trying to complete a sidewalk café in Brewerytown. It's outside of the overlay so there's a different process. I had to chase down departments for receipts, documents, et cetera, all that need to be uploaded into the eCLIPSE system. In addition, after my first meeting with L&I at the MSB Building, I found out that many of the instructions on some of the City websites, not all of them, were incorrect. There was a listing where you had to make eight different copies that you had to bring in person and that was all incorrect. The process has moved into eCLIPSE, but the instructions on the website still remained. That's a challenge. Many businesses do not have the resources to not only make appointments to sit at the MSB Building for hours to let alone the tons of emails to find out the appropriate information or the correct department. Business owners have been focused on pandemic recovery and following the rules while frustration grows as the process has become more of a hardship than it may be worth. We need support. So today I have a few asks: Clarity, I ask for clearer instructions and for uniformity of instructions on all websites the City posts information regarding outdoor dining. Efficiency, I ask for an office of one to three individuals, employees dedicated to the entire Outdoor Dining program, whether it's a streetery, a sidewalk café or other to help minimize the need for the business owner to be responsible to bring all the City departments together. I suggest a weekly or monthly call would be helpful or online office hours. Fairness, I ask for equity in this process. Many businesses do not have the resources to build a huge structure or even the resources to spend weeks, months or maybe even a year trying to apply for a permit that may never come. An investment, I ask the City invest in this program by designating staff and resources to this process to better assist applicants.
Lastly, bring back a form of the outdoor dining pilot. I ask because we had online meetings. I was on these calls every week. It was Tuesday at 11 o'clock, and it really worked. It brought all the different City departments together. We were all there. They asked us questions. We could ask them questions and there was that form of communication instead of having to chase down each individual department. This system really worked. I understand there will be challenges with that just based on the number of people applying for these different permits and applications, but I think a system could be developed, whether Week No. 1, it's the beginning of the process, Week No. 2 is the L&I, Week No. 3 is the Streets part. There's a million ways we could go about it and we're all here today to offer our help to make sure we have a process that works for everyone. Philadelphia has a lot to offer. We've proved our willingness and resilience during the pandemic. And in 2026, we could show the world how great this city is once more. Won't you help us. Thank you again, Councilmember Landau, for your assistance and bringing the light to this matter. A big thanks to the entire Committee for inviting us to participate today. We look forward to helping you however we can moving forward. And I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Evans. Please proceed with your testimony. MR. McGRANAGHAN: Good afternoon, Chairperson Young, Vice- Chairperson Squilla and fellow distinguished Councilmembers. My name is Sean McGranaghan. I'm the Director of Operations for Winnie's Manayunk located on Main Street in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia. I appreciate the invitation and opportunity to join you today to share some of my thoughts and feedback on Philadelphia's Streetery and Sidewalk Café programs. When the pandemic happened, restaurants were one of the most vulnerable and yet essential industries affected. At the time through the leadership of several Councilmembers, including the current Mayor, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and getting feedback from the PRLA, we were permitted to expand our opportunities, collectively think out of the box for solutions to support our team members, our guests, our operators and our communities. We all did whatever we could to keep our team employed and our doors open. Then coming out of the pandemic, the program was documented and outlined to formally normalize a streetery license. What we found was a confusing and arduous process that was extremely expensive and burdensome. At Winnie's, we were one of the first locations in the City to be approved. We worked tirelessly for months going back and forth with multiple City departments for the simplest of available options, the pavement streetery. For months we went back and forth with reviews from the Streets Department, which did not acknowledge the difference between the pavement streetery and other versions. We were able to get approved through persistence. Many face the same challenge and gave up the idea of continuing a strategy or simply kept doing what they wanted to do ignoring the law and willing to deal with the repercussions being fined as opposed to submitting to the process. As a result, I feel the participation level in acquiring a streetery license was far below the actual streeteries in operation. At Winnie's, we are a pillar of our community. We are a cheerleader, not just for ourselves, not just for Manayunk and Roxborough and the neighborhoods we serve, but for Philadelphia as a whole. Winnie has spent the past years 6 cultivating an environment of 7 inclusivity and caring for both the 8 community and her team. 9 The team at the PRLA 10 highlighted many of the issues and 11 challenges facing the industry as 12 it relates to Philly's outdoor 13 dining and rules and regulations. 14 To expand on some of what Ben 15 mentioned, I wanted to emphasize a 16 point of concerns that affect us 17 personally. 18 Creating a fair playing 19 field for all operators regardless 20 of who they know or how many resources they have is critical to support an industry that is still struggling to get back to pre-pandemic levels. Those who had the resources or connections were able to get more done. While those without resources were given a mountain to climb. This created an unfair disadvantage and does not help those who need the help of the additional space to serve their communities. Once we passed, I worked with several other operators to help them put forward their plans to help them through the process. We want a system that helps everyone, a system that creates opportunities for our teams, our guests and our communities. We want to know that the City we all love will help create opportunities, not create additional barriers to grow for our communities. What we're looking for today is fairness and equity for everybody, creating a level playing field. Thank you, Councilwoman Landau, for bringing this forward. Big thanks to the entire Committee for inviting us to participate today. We look forward to helping however we can to move forward. Happy to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Are there any questions for these witnesses by members of the Committee? (No response.)
I just have one general question. You all have said that during the pandemic the process seemed to be better than it is now, right. And just describe to us what you think the City can be doing in order to -- because that was emergency rules, right. But what can we do as a City to really, really streamline the process? I understand you said have someone dedicated to the outdoor dining experience. You mentioned the onerous monthly-long process of getting the applications through which frustrates many small business owners. But what really is the most simplest thing you think we can do today that will make this process less burdensome?
I think having a liaison, Councilman, would be the best option.
You talked about how easy it was during the pandemic. It was also the Wild West. Nobody knew what they were doing. We really had to be creative and you saw restaurants being creative. However, this -- I mean, Philadelphia should really be patting itself on the back. I mean, it's one of the most robust outdoor dining programs in the country, and these guys have worked their butt off in the Administration to get that moving along. So I said this is in its infancy. We want this to last for a long time. So during the pandemic we were just really trying to help the restaurants, help the guests of the restaurants, help employees, make sure we were keeping employees employed. But moving forward, we understand that regulations are required. We understand that processes have to be played out, but there's no one that cares about the safety of their guests and their employees more than restaurant operators, one of the regulated sectors in our City and these guys are prepared to work hard to make sure they're doing the right thing. All they want to do is the right thing. They want this permit, whether it be for café seating, for sidewalk seating, structured streetery or normal streetery. What we've seen over and over again that these processes, as you hear now and you're going to hear from, could be months to years. I mean, I talked to some restaurant owners that have been waiting two years for a café permit. So again, we just want to -- and I have to say some of the departments have been really fantastic. Commerce has been giving a lot of our members White Glove treatment to go through this process. And if we can kind of formalize that and say, hey, listen if you're having a problem, here's where you go to or let's get somebody to come out to your streetery instead of going back and forth for six months in an email, which takes up a lot of time for the operators and the City official. How much easier would it be to go out to the restaurant and say, you know what, we just need you to move that inches, we need 6 you to get off that manhole, we 7 need one last chair here, we want 8 to make sure this is ADA 9 accessible, we want to make sure 10 there's not a fire hazard, we want 11 to make sure that that's not 12 blocking traffic, and let's get this all cleaned up right now instead of going back and forth for six months to a year. And again, we have a lot of people that are passionate here and they love the City of Philadelphia, so we'll do what it takes. But I think a direct liaison would be the easiest and simplest solution. And to get back to one other point that you had asked, Councilmember, is about adjacent used property. And you asked a very great question about why can't you put a streetery within 30 feet. And we saw time and time again, I would go to operators and say, you have to take this down. And they said, but there's a PPA sign that says you can park there. And PPA goes right up to 5 feet to the corner. And it was very difficult for me to explain to them, listen, this rule is for you, not for them. And unfortunately, we can't we create a regulation that goes against state guidelines. However, we can find a solution because we are a smart city and a smart industry. And adjacent property use is a great solution to that. If you can't have a streetery in a corner property with what, 78,000 corners in Philadelphia, many of them do have bars, pubs and restaurants in them, let's come up with a solution. Good Dog on 15th Street, it's a standard foot-wide 4 restaurant. During the pandemic 5 and up until last year, they had a 6 streetery that extended a couple 7 stores down because it's just the 8 side of a parking lot there. All 9 of a sudden they went from having a 10 beautiful streetery that had about 11 11 tables to now having 3, 4 orange 12 crash barriers with two picnic 13 benches.
14 So we want to be a part of 15 the community in a meaningful way, 16 not just serving our guests, but to make the City stronger and to welcome all these guests that are coming in. I mean, in 2026 we're expecting millions of folks, many of them from Europe. Europe has not had a problem with outdoor seating. South America has not had a problem with outdoor seating. Many of our cities in the country have not had a problem with outdoor seating. So as we welcome all these folks from all over the world, let's show them that we are just as great as they are and providing not only the restaurants with opportunities, but the citizens of Philadelphia with the opportunity as well.
Thank you. In your interactions with the different departments regarding outdoor dining, where do you think this liaison should be housed at?
That's a tough question because they all have very, very specific roles. I see most of the permitting process ends up in streets. But I also know Commerce with their Nighttime Economy Department now, that may be a better fit but I would love to have the conversation.
Thank you so much. Thank you gentlemen for your testimony. I appreciate your time today.
The next witness to testify, witnesses to testify, are Nate Ross, owner of New Wave Café; Joshua Otto, owner of Otto Architects; and William Reed, owner of Johnny Brenda's and the International. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Thank you gentlemen. In any order, just state your name and proceed with your testimony.
Hi. My name is Nate Ross. I'm the owner of the New Wave Café. Thank you for having us. And I think it's finally going to be time that you actually hear from people that actually do this for a living, so thank you. I'm happy to report that I'm about to start my 40th year in business at 3rd and Catherine, so I've been doing this for more than a minute. And I survived COVID for two reasons: New Wave survived because of my partner and I's tenacity and the fact that we had sidewalk dining. Now, I've had sidewalk dining first on 3rd Street and then on Catherine Street for almost 30 years. But the streetery is the single reason why we survived. And until this day I have customers that still won't come inside. We're a neighborhood spot. We get mom and dad, the kids and the family dog. We get as Councilwoman Landau says, we get plenty of handicapped or senior citizens, it's just easier for them. I don't begrudge the City and Mr. Carroll and everyone in their department for doing their job. That's not going to get us anywhere, bashing anyone. But through Mr. Carroll's testimony himself, he basically told you that we have seven different agencies to do business with. I mean, it's preposterous. Give us one entity and everyone in this room, we're all rule-followers, we're all serious people, we will get it done, you know. So I mean, that's kind of my personal story. I've been in this -- first off, I was one of the 100 people that had the original license that you had when it came out. There are only about 113 of us I believe that had the original streetery license. I had that, which expired December 31st of '23. And I was also one of the operators that met the new deadline for the new application, which was the first week of January of '23 -- I'm sorry, end of '22 to then January of '23 was the new application. I hired the architect and the drawings and the engineer and figured out the tech, and we got our application in. The original response I got was thank you, but this is not the correct application for sidewalk dining. Now, I didn't make a mistake. I filed for the right license. Politely wrote back that I had what I -- sidewalk, I was applying for streetery. 14 months later I'm still waiting for my appeal to be heard. So the good news is that I'm licensed, I'm permitted, I'm insured and I'm doing my -- and instead of letting that time go by, I went proactively and got 250 of my neighbors to sign a petition. I then went to my neighborhood group, Queen Village Neighborhoods Association, and they held a hearing on our place, and they unanimously endorsed us. We've forwarded all of that to my Councilman, Mr. Squilla. And at some point when we finally get our license being that this is Philadelphia, I still have to go through another step because I'm not in the automatic approval zone. I still need to have an ordinance 13 written by my City Councilman. So that's kind of my story. Thank you for listening. And if you have any questions, please.
No, thank you for your testimony. I really appreciate hearing about your experience.
Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to come today. My name is Josh Otto. I'm the owner and principal of Otto Architects located in Jenkintown. For more than years I've worked with local restaurant owners on design approvals and construction of over 50 restaurants. I've had the opportunity to work with various City agencies, including L&I, the Streets Department, Department of Health, Commerce as well as the historical Art Commission. Resulting projects contributed greatly to Philadelphia's vibrant dining scene. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and lockdown started in March of 2020, my business like many others faced an uncertain future. The majority of my projects involved the public-facing restaurant industry. As lockdowns began to ease and restaurants were slowly permitted to reopen, we pivoted to help them address concerns and the safety of their staff and customers. One of the biggest opportunities at that moment were the newly created regulations for expanded outdoor dining in the form of sidewalk cafés and the streetery. We helped restaurants plan and document these streeteries, and City agencies worked quickly to allow implementation. This became a lifeline to the restaurants and the only way most of them could provide onsite dining experience. The initial outdoor regulations were rolled out quickly and were straightforward to understand. The application and approval process for sidewalk cafés was streamlined for fast approvals and the Streets Department worked swiftly to review the new streeteries. The resulting streeteries took many forms, from tables and chairs set in parking spaces to more robust structures with integrated heating and lighting. While the streetery program was well-intentioned, it was inequitable. Many businesses could not create a street due to constraints, including the physical location of the restaurants and their financial resources. They may not have had the available parking lots, lanes in front, and some properties are too narrow to effectively install dining and the width of the boundaries of their storefront property lines. Additionally, streeteries were and are not permitted by-right for most restaurants outside the Center City boundaries. New streetery-related challenges began at the end of 2022 when regulations were updated. At that time, three sources regulated the design, the updated City Code Section 9-215, the Streetery license guide and an L&I code bulletin. Unfortunately, the three of these were not carefully coordinated which caused confusion to both restaurant owners and design professionals. Reviewing these rules at the time, I found over a dozen discrepancies between them, many relating to dimensional and construction issues. Since there was no single resource outlining the submission approval process, submitting streetery applications became frustrating. While understanding the Streets Department was given this new and additional burden, learning the status of applications has been difficult, review responses are varied and multiple submissions are typically required. The process from application to approval has often spanned many months. If a restaurant wants to build a structured streetery, one that is enclosed with a roof, there are additional required submissions to the Art Commission and L&I for building permits. These approvals extend the process with some lasting over a year as the City moves forward allowing restaurants to construct streeteries. I believe changes can be made to streamline the submission and review processes, such as taking action to clearly define the application review requirements. A restaurant owner should be able to easily understand the process and timeline without relying even on design professionals or attorneys. Formalize the initial submission to the Streets Department. Currently the information is sent to a central email address.
Once this is submitted, there's no ability to track these applications. Review the by-right location requirements that impede outdoor dining outside of the established Center City boundaries. These restaurants are required to obtain City Council ordinances before they may apply for a license. This a month-long process that is difficult to understand and navigate, especially for the typical small business restaurant owner. Philadelphia's renowned restaurant scene is recognized both near and far. The outdoor dining opportunities the City provides, both animate and discrete scape and make this a vibrant city. Any efforts made to support this should continue to be encouraged. I would like to thank Councilmember Landau and the entire Committee for initiating this important conversation. Look forward to help to encourage and strengthen outdoor dining opportunities throughout Philadelphia and be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Mr. Reed, please proceed with your testimony.
Thank you, City Council. I really appreciate the good faith effort that's really apparent here in trying to help out the hospitality sector. My name is William Reed. I'm co-owner of three restaurants in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, Standard Tap, Johnny Brenda's and the International. We employ about 125 people today, all residents of Philadelphia. I mention that because pre-COVID it was about 20 percent higher. Many people are under the impression now that the hospitality sector has come out of the pandemic. The restrictions have lifted, but it's not in our rearview mirror. Many restaurants are really struggling. Last year was terrible for most of us. We've been taking the opportunity during our earthquake break, I don't know what you call that, we were talking to each other and 2023 was terrible for us. Revenue is up a little bit but our costs are way up. And I mention that because the outdoor dining program during the pandemic was really a lifeline for many of us. I supported the restrictions that were in place for public health and all that kind of thing, but it was great to have somewhere where the restaurant industry we could help ourselves, right. We were not asking for a handout. We were asking for a way to do what we do, and it saved many of our businesses, very important. We are looking forward to 2026, right. We're looking at the world coming here to Philadelphia and we really want to put our best foot forward, our best foot. I don't think there's any reason that we shouldn't be as good as Paris or other places, right, that have this outdoor vibrancy. I'm not full of myself. I don't know if Philadelphia is Paris, but that's what we're striving for. And I heard a lot of sort of compromise suggestions from earlier testimony that why don't you just put a couple chairs out, and that's not the best we can do and that's why. We creatively solved a lot of problems during the pandemic, and we've adapted and rebuilt and done stuff to try to make our outdoor experience as good as it can be. The new legislation when it became permanent, I get that it's easier to be more restrictive to try to make everywhere compliant as much as you can. But there's a lot of the restrictions that we find in the permanent version that just don't really make sense. The one where you're not allowed to get permission from an adjacent property has been cited many times, that's huge. All three of my properties are corner, right. Most of the bars and restaurants in Philadelphia that's not -- I'm not going to say most, but many of them. I don't have the statistics, but many of them. But just that one simple thing can really allow a viable outdoor dining scene that isn't allowed in the current things. Not allowing lighting of any kind or electricity, I mean what year is this? We know how to do this according to code and safely. So the idea that it's safer to not have lighting in an outdoor dining area is just insane to me. It's not only inviting in a hospitality way, but it's needed, right. You wouldn't allow a business to operate without lighting in an employee zone, and yet somehow this is cited as a safety concern --
We're also probably the safest corners in the City that have streeteries in our restaurants because we are well- lit. I have many, many, many women in my neighborhood that cross the street to walk on my side of the street when they're walking down with their children, not crossing the street away, crossing over to be in front.
Yeah, that's a really good point. I have personal anecdotes to where people have sought safety in our place. Yeah, eyes on the street, some lighting, all those things is great. You've noticed -- the earlier testimony also mentioned illegal activities that could somehow take place or something like that. Restaurant owners are, it's all -- we sweep our sidewalks, we clean, we provide security at night. We do all those things and it's important to us more than anybody that our corners are safe. So, yeah, actually lighting's a big one. And it wasn't even a commonsense solution like, oh, you could do low voltage lighting or something like that, like landscape lighting. I have no idea what the objection is to the safety of that. We actually at Johnny Brenda's came up with heated seats that used minimal electricity during the pandemic because we were forced to be a four-season outdoor dining, right. We came up with a heated seat that used very little energy at all. We shared it immediately on YouTube for other restaurants across the country. People have implemented it in ski areas, everything, right. It worked, you know, but we had to pull all of our electric out of our streeteries to comply and it's really just a step backwards. The public loves outdoor dining. I applaud you guys, men and women, for bringing this forward. It's amazing to see a partner in Philadelphia government rather than just a bureaucracy that is stopping us from doing what we need to do. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your testimony. With the changes in regulations, how much does it cost you to comply with all these changes?
Yeah, it's a lot and the time is really more expensive than anything, right. And keeping -- we basically had architects on retainer at this point to be able to get through this. I mean, it is very expensive.
I mean, the customer tells you what you can and cannot do, I mean, whether they come or not. It's really elementary. I mean, I'm in a neighborhood where a house will sell for $1 million. I mean, of course my sidewalk's swept. Of course, I hose it down. Of course, my streetery is well-lit. Of course, it's clean. I mean, it would be incompatible with success to not be any other way.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you gentlemen for your testimony. I really appreciate your time.
Mr. Pullin, can you please call the next panel of witnesses.
The next witnesses to testify are Nate Hommel, Director of Planning and Design at University City District; and Cassidy Martin, Executive Director of Northern Liberties Business Improvement District. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Thank you all. Will you please state your name for the record and begin your testimony.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Young, Councilmembers. My name is Cassidy Martin. I'm the Executive Director of the Northern Liberties Business Improvement District. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. My colleague Nate and I are here to provide testimony on Resolution 240136 on behalf of our organizations and representing the BID Alliance as well, which includes the 16 Business Improvement Districts of the City, those being Aramingo, Center City District, Chestnut Hill, City Avenue, East Passyunk, Fishtown, Manayunk, Mayfair, Mount Airy, North Broad Renaissance, Northern Liberties, Old City, Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation, Roxborough, South Street and University City. The outdoor dining requirements as they currently stand clearly do not work for the restaurants in the City. At its peak there were over 800 outdoor dining establishments in Philadelphia, and now only a handful remain. Specifically Northern Liberties used to be over a dozen streeteries. Today there's only one which is licensed under the current requirements. The other dining regulations are also inequitable, which I believe Councilmember Brooks brought up earlier. Streeteries and sidewalk cafés are only by-right in selected neighborhoods. Most of these neighborhoods have a Business Improvement District. And Section 9-215 defines by-right boundaries using the specific boundaries of these BIDS. By definition, BID boundaries have wealthier residents as well as businesses with greater access to capital, as they are created on corridors where the commercial property values can support the additional assessments issued by BIDS. This is inherently inequitable because the BIDS played a major role in advocating for their corridors during the outdoor dining conversations, and many neighborhoods and restaurants do not have the same voice at the table. Every restaurant on a commercial corridor in Philadelphia should have the same process and opportunity to utilize outdoor dining for their business, whether they are located in a corridor with a BID or not. The BID Alliance published its policy agenda at the beginning of 2023 and recommends the City make outdoor dining on every commercial corridor by-right. Businesses should have access to use of the parking lane in front of their space for seating by-right and use of the adjacent parking lane by-right with permission of that property owner. The process for obtaining a streetery license should also be streamlined as much as possible. As we've heard, businesses must obtain professional drawings, have architects on retainer, meet with several City departments, pay various fees. But in many cases, businesses must also obtain an ordinance from City Council and engage in a lengthy legislative process. Based on the lack of businesses who are licensed, it is clear these requirements are burdensome. We also recommend sidewalk café seating be by-right in all commercial corridors. Every restaurant in Philadelphia should have the right to place a few tables and chairs in front of their establishment without needing a City ordinance. Outdoor dining, specifically sidewalk seating, adds significant revenue for little investment for small restaurants. To tell a story about a restaurant in my neighborhood, this is especially critical for first- time restaurant owners often who are many new Americans. Pera Turkish Cuisine located on 2nd and Laurel Streets in Northern Liberties has worked for almost a year on getting their sidewalk café permit, which they need prior to getting Council approval. Pera is owned by Mehmet and Eric, who both moved to Philadelphia over years ago and 2 opened the restaurant in 2022. 3 Pera is highly successful, but 4 still operates in only a little 5 over 1,000 square feet of space.
6 Pera's sidewalk café will add four 7 tables to their dining space which 8 will bring in significant 9 additional revenue, especially on 10 weekends when the restaurant is often completely booked. The dozens of requirements needed for the sidewalk café license, including several revisions to their plan by an architect and still waiting to get on the Council calendar, will mean Pera will have spent over a year just to place four tables on their sidewalk. The current regulations are incredibly difficult and complex for most restaurant operators, but are specifically an added burden for small new American restaurants. Thank you for allowing me to share this and I welcome any questions.
I'm Nate Hommel, Director of Planning and Design for University City District. Chair Young, Councilmember Landau and members of the Committee of Streets and Services, thank you for allowing me to provide this testimony regarding steeteries and the necessary regulatory reforms. As representative of University City District, I'm honored to speak on this critical matter that significantly impacts our City's vitality and vibrancy. My organization University City District was founded in '97, by partnering with the world-renowned anchor institutions, small businesses and residents to improve economic vitality and quality of life in Philadelphia's University City. Our primary mission is community revitalization. We work within a place-based data-driven framework to invest in world-class public spaces, address crime and public safety, support small businesses along our commercial corridors, connect low-income Philadelphians to careers and employer partners and promote job growth and innovation. Every day we work to change places and change lives. Before delving into specifics, I want to thank Chair Young, Councilmember Landau and all Committee members for their dedication to addressing this issue and facilitating this critical discussion. My organization University City District has been at the forefront of urban revitalization efforts. With experience ranging from large-scale public space projects like the Porch at 30 Street Station, Trolley Portal Gardens on Baltimore Avenue to neighborhood safety and commercial corridor activation projects like parklets and pedestrian plazas. Of particular note for this Streetery's hearing was that we introduced parklets to Philadelphia in 2011. A parklet is a pure public space that is a simple seating platform with protective barriers that showed on average a percent increase in sales to our 15 restaurants. With the onset of the 16 pandemic, we collaborated with the 17 City to strategize the activation 18 of public spaces, leading to the 19 emergence of streeteries, a concept 20 derived from our previous experience with parklets in West Philadelphia from 2011 to 2022. The design of streeteries or parklets is intricate and often necessitates the involvement of costly design professionals. We propose pre-approved, standardized modular options to democratize access to streeteries as an economic development tool for restaurants. This approach will streamline the process and alleviate financial burdens for restaurant owners. Standardized options will promote fairness and equality among restaurants, particularly benefiting establishments owned by individuals from marginalized communities. By reducing the need for hiring design professionals, these standardized options empower restaurant owners to focus on their businesses, saving valuable time and resources. Reflecting on our experience with parklets, we recognize the importance of an iterative approach to streeteries. Learning from the evolving needs and preferences of the community, we envision a phased implementation that allows for adjustments and enhancements over time. This iterative process proved successful with parklets and is essential for effectiveness of streeteries. While promoting the activation of public spaces, we must prioritize pedestrian safety, especially for corner restaurants. Similar to our previous parklet designs, we propose leaving the portions nearest to corners uncovered to ensure visibility and mitigate potential hazards. Drawing from past successes in Philadelphia's right-of-way activation projects, I urge the Committee to embrace innovation and flexibility in regulating streeteries. We can create dynamic inclusive public spaces that benefit our communities by fostering collaboration and adaptability. In conclusion, I sincerely thank the Committee on Streets and Services for their commitment to advancing urban development initiatives.
By working together, we can establish a regulatory framework for streeteries that fosters innovation, equity and safety. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Thank you so much for your testimony. I just have one question. Since majority of the BIDS that we have are outside of the Center City zone, I guess can you reiterate your position on allowing a more by-right process for sidewalk cafés and streeteries in areas where there are BIDS that are created by the City?
For us because I'm in the 3rd Council District, we are all approved. We're the only one that has a blanket approval outside of Center City. But sidewalk cafés remain onerous and requires the restaurants to get involved in the legislative process. The sidewalk cafés are certainly more of a challenge, but actually that's what most restaurants in our district have been asking me for because of the streeteries. Even though they're by-right, because of the difficulties of all the design professionals and the reviews and other things, they say you know what, I'll just get a couple tables and chairs. But even in that getting in ordinance, they have to hire an architect. They again have to have an architect on retainer because it lasts for months and months and months even though I'm there holding their hand the whole time saying, this is what you need to do, here's who you can talk to, here's who the City officials are that you need to speak with. Even with that, it takes many months for one or two tables. And so, it seems like that could be a by-right situation very easily. You just don't block a fire hydrant, don't block the emergency, et cetera, et cetera, and boom, you can just have these things. So the safety is number one. Safety has to be considered. We don't want to jeopardize anything like that, but the ease of access to get these items having by-right options certainly makes it easier for people that don't have the resources, don't know the Councilmember, don't know City officials, don't know people in the Business Improvement District. They should be able to just get these items because we've proven with our parklets it increases business by percent just with 6 parklets, and during streeteries it 7 saved the restaurant industry. 8 Our argument is you pay for 9 the infrastructure, that 20 percent 10 increase in sales continues year 11 after year after year, and that 12 parklet or streetery has paid for 13 itself. So this is clearly an 14 economic development tool. Again, 15 with new Americans, with Black and 16 Brown businesses, there aren't a 17 lot of resources. There aren't as 18 many options for them to go out for 19 these things. 20 And so, I think the more we can have a standardized set of like, hey, pick from Option A, B and C, if you're deep-pocketed and you don't want those, great, you can still go through the process. But for those that don't have that, it would be a lifeline to say, boom, I can just get this, I can save up that money and I can get this maybe in Year or of this process.
Thank you so much. Any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Thank you so much for your testimony. I really appreciate your time today. Mr. Pullin, are there any other witnesses to testify?
Yes, there are. The next witnesses to testify are Cassie Tomkins, Senior Director of Government and Civic Affairs at Visit Philly and Ashley Miscevich, Manager of Local Government Advocacy and Engagement at the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Thank you so much for having me this afternoon. I'm here to testify in support of Resolution 240136, introduced by Councilmember Landau. My name is Cassie Tomkins and I'm the Senior Director of Government and Civic Affairs at Visit Philadelphia. As you know, Visit Philly is the official destination marketing organization of the Philadelphia five-county region. Our mission is to build Greater Philadelphia's image, attract leisure visitors and boost the local economy. Culinary experiences are a key marketing pillar for Visit Philadelphia. Meaning, that we are often leaning into this when we're advertising to folks outside of the region as a reason to come to Philadelphia. And food and beverage is the largest category of direct visitor spending, accounting for over a quarter of all visitor spending in the City. So when they come, what they're wanting to spend their money on is food. And we know from perception studies that we commissioned from Ipsos research firm that restaurants and dining are key motivators for getting people to travel, not just to Philadelphia but across all destinations. And when restaurants thrive, there's increased foot traffic and more visitors, residents and regional residents spend time and money in our commercial corridors. Not only did the pandemic negatively impact restaurants, it also showed us how crucial the dining scene is to the vitality of our communities. We encourage City Council to adopt this resolution 4 and look into ways to make the process for gaining and maintaining streeteries easier for restaurants, equitable across neighborhoods and beneficial for residents and visitors alike. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Just one question I have. I know Philadelphia is known for our restaurant scene, as our Center City. We don't have a lot of the large chain restaurants here. So could you talk about how the regulations, if any, has it suppressed any visitation or have you had any issues from visitors when trying to navigate our restaurant scene here?
Well, one point I just wanted to make, you reminded me, Philadelphia actually has more restaurants per capita than New York City, so we are known for having a lot of restaurants, small restaurants, as you said not owned by chains. I don't actually have any data on the regulations impacting travel, but I will say as we can all anecdotally say we enjoy eating out, and I think having a lively street scene would be actually a draw to come to Philly, especially for our day trippers, people who are coming from the regions who might want to come in for a meal with their families. If you know there's a vibrant outdoor scene, you might want to come more often.
Yes. Just anecdotally, I'm going to New York this weekend for a day, right. And as we're walking around whoever has somewhere outside, that's probably where we're going to go because it catches our attention.
Yes. Any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you so much for your testimony, I appreciate it, today.
Mr. Pullin, please call our last witnesses to testify please.
The next witnesses to testify are Eli Storch, Chair of the Design Advocacy Group. I believe Ariel Ben-Amos, founder of StreetBoxPHL is not here anymore. It's just Mr. Storch.
And was there anyone who signed up to testify today as well for public comment?
Yes. We have one, Paul Lipton, if he's still available. You can feel free to come up and testify on the panel.
Thank you. Please come up to the panel. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Please state your name and begin your testimony please.
Sure thing. My name is Eli Storch. I chair the Design Advocacy Group. Chairperson Young, Councilmember Landau, members of the Streets and Services Committee, it's a pleasure to testify before you today on the opportunity to revisit streeteries after the program languished since pandemic regulations were lifted. This program can and should work. Philadelphia's restaurants, as have been stated again and again, are world renowned and a source of pride for our citizens. And at the same time when retail's struggling and commercial corridors need a boost, a successful outdoor dining program can provide many solutions. What is required to revise and implement such program is leadership, leadership to navigate the City's agencies. We've heard all about the many boundaries there, bringing them together to find solutions that are more than a mere agglomeration of various agency requirements but coordinated commonsense regulations that represent best practice. Leadership to coordinate meaningfully with PennDOT to provide peace of mind to restaurant owners so that they're not under that constant threat of an outside authority, and leadership to make this program a priority. We thank Councilmember Landau for taking the first step, but it's critical that other members of Council and the Mayor's Office get on board and prioritize the streeteries program. Outside of City Hall, that the will is there, not just from restaurant owners looking for additional seating, but from communities eager for greater foot traffic, active street culture which provides more safety and a higher quality of living while supporting other local businesses. And frankly, people like it. Folks enjoy it. The design community is prepared to support these efforts as well, whether the goal is standardizing design options as Nate was talking about, evaluating and modifying regulations to achieve best practice outcomes or designing the most beautiful interesting and welcoming structures for dining that meet the various regulatory criteria. As with any design development and construction project, clarity and certainty lead to better more consistent outcomes. The Design Advocacy Group is excited to offer our support and assistance with the review of both the design and regulatory requirements for the Streeteries Program, DAG's Philadelphia Streeteries Visioning Guide, which was published in August of 2022 represents months of research, outreach and public meetings and design studies with City officials, restaurant owners, design professionals, community representatives, commercial corridor managers and others. And throughout that process, it was reinforced again and again how much momentum was behind the program. Sadly, we as a city have squandered that momentum. But with the leadership of Council and the Mayor's Office, we look forward to joining in a rejuvenated process that studies best practice precedence from other cities, both domestically and abroad, and combines them with all the elements that make Philadelphia special and challenging to yield an actionable outcome that benefits the City. Thank you for your time. It's a privilege to be here.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Please proceed with your testimony. Do you have any --
Yes. Thank you for your time and for this opportunity to speak to the Councilmembers. Today I'm speaking as a member of the public. I don't represent or have any affiliation with any restaurateurs or the industry as a whole or any of its related vendors for that matter.
Yes. My apologies. My name is Paul Lipton. I'm a citizen in Philadelphia. I live in the Graduate Hospital area. Do you need more specific information or is that adequate?
Okay. So I wanted to take this opportunity to speak in support of some of what we've heard today and what Member Council Landau has been encouraging, which is streamlining and improvement in the process. I'm speaking personally from a handful of perspectives. My wife has some medical issues and also she is hearing- impaired. So the streeteries for us -- we've all seen, for example, people pull up a wheelchair at a streetery or a sidewalk café and certainly people with those disabilities are served and we see people with dogs and all that, but there are many other constituencies with medical problems that are dependent upon these sidewalk cafés and streeteries if we wish to dine. So in the case of hearing disability, my wife uses hearing aids. Just to make that clear, a lot of people wear hearing aids. If you look for them, you can see them. I know there was a gentleman here I saw had one on. 8 million Americans who have hearing disability that would significantly benefit from hearing aids. That's expected to double by 2060 because we're getting older, because we use earbuds for if we go to concerts. There's a lot of reasons, but it is inevitable. We have an aging population. It's inevitable that more and more people will have these disabilities. For my wife who can't be here today, she is unable to dine indoors because almost all restaurants are too noisy for her to do what we really do when we wish to dine which is to socialize. It's one of the things that makes Philadelphia great, is these restaurants, and certainly she is largely unable to take advantage of that now. Even though we're fortunate to have the disposable income and ability to go to these restaurants, there are quite a few that we can't. She also has in addition to a hearing deficiency, she has something that's actually relatively common for people who have hearing damage and you may not have heard of it before, it's called hyperacusis which means even though she can't easily understand what people are saying in noisy environments, and as we know some restaurants for better or worse, they use words like lively, but for those of us who see the word lively or exciting, we know that means loud as a jet engine, so we just don't give our money or go to those places. You could tell a little frustration there. I'm sorry if I let that show. But when you have hyperacusis, it's physically painful for you to hear a loud noise. So you can imagine how difficult that is for people who suffer from that particular hearing disability. And it often accompanies other hearing loss to varying degrees. So for us as people who have chosen to live in Greater Center City, this is a real issue. And we all know -- you can see I'm wearing a mask. That relates to the other medical issues. We all know that this isn't the only pandemic we're going to have. We know that RSV or other things will happen because of climate change or all that. I'm an engineer by background, so the first thing I think is are we resilient or are we going to go into panic mode when we have to all dine outside again. And the charm of this City is also its resilience in terms of its restaurants and that academic base, if I may speak that opinion. And also, in my own nature of work as an engineer, I've had to travel from Prague to Tokyo. And I've been fortunate enough to go to a lot of cities, and the only ones you want to go back to are the ones that have the outdoor dining, the charm, that European feel. And Philadelphia which is in so many ways a European city. I can't see economically, I can't see in terms of our quality of life as citizens why we aren't leaning into that more. Why it isn't the easiest thing in the world in a city like this, especially if you're a small restaurateur to at least jumpstart into a small café with three or four tables, but also easier for people to offer streeteries that can support three- or four-season dining, which of course means some kind of electrification or heat.
Because what we do now to be honest is in January we don't dine out. And if there are restaurants that we could go to and support with our dollars and our enthusiasm, they're completely close to us, if they don't have the ability to properly heat and with proper ventilation -- guys, please still have those outdoor dineries. So I guess I shouldn't really take much more of your time. I very much appreciate that you've listened to me so far. And again, I apologize for the extemporaneous nature of what I'm saying. I have no notes or preparation. I literally saw Councilmember Landau's tweet -- well, my wife showed me. I don't tweet or X last night. I did send you an email. But I just want to thank you for your time and attention. And I'd be perfectly comfortable answering any questions you might have.
Thank you both for your testimony. Mr. Lipton, thank you for your testimony specifically coming down here as just a common citizen of our City who just wants to enjoy the benefits of living in the City. So again, thank you so much. I do have a question for Mr. Storch. Can you describe to us some of the materials that are required to design some of these streeteries? And is there a way where you think we can offer more lightweight materials, a little more cheaper materials to help some of these restaurant owners out?
So New York City's doing some interesting work with prototyping, and inevitably those prototypes cost a little bit more. But once they can make them and begin to standardize them, the cost comes down considerably and they're using lighter gauge aluminums and things that either allow you to move the whole device easily or lift up panels. So if you are over any sort of underground utilities, you could fully expose those for maintenance without having to deconstruct the streetery. The nice thing is when we started studying this in 2022, we were out front with everybody else trying to figure it out. There's been a lot of work done so there are a lot of really good precedence around the country. And that's just one off the top of the head. So I think with some research, the focus on resilient materials and lightweight materials is a really critical one, whether it is that aluminum or fiberglass or some other lightweight materials that can be prefabricated going back to the standardization approach.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? Councilmember Harrity.
Not really questions. I'd just like to thank everybody who came out today and actually thank Rue for putting the legislation in. I grew up in the restaurant business. I dropped out of high school at 16 and was able to make a living and then actually support a family from working in the restaurant business. And I know how important it would have been to have three extra tables with 36 extra covers if we can make three turns, you know, the restaurant business. That's money for restaurant and it's also money for the employees working there. So I commend Rue on putting this up because I too love the outdoor cafés. And if I had a choice and I was going out and it's nice out, I want to eat outside. I want to sit around, enjoy the atmosphere and people watch, you know, watch everybody going by and all that stuff that you do. So I'd just like to commend it. And we really do need to make it easier. And like you said, there's other kinds of stuff that we can use now. They have plastic that's stronger than steel now. You know, it's very lightweight. So I appreciate it and I thank you, Rue.
Thank you. No specific questions, but I also just want to take a second to thank everybody. We are so appreciative of our small businesses here in Philadelphia, our small restaurants, for everything that you've already gone through in this process. I've talked to many restaurateurs who spent a lot of money to create structures that they just had to take down, and we're now saying -- hopefully we'll open up the avenue for you to do it again. But hopefully they will also last this time. We are going to all take in everything that you've told us, and I know that especially Chair Young and I are going to sit down and see what solutions we can come up with in working with the Administration who we appreciate so much. 2026 is just around the corner and we do want to make sure that Philly's got such a vibrant, sometimes quiet and vibrant, restaurant scene and want to make sure it's accessible to everybody. So thank you again for your time and coming out, and we want to support you in every way that we can.
I think I want to jump on the thank- you train too. Once again I love outdoor eating and dining. And just being in the hearing just hearing some of the restaurants that are represented reminded me like, I need to make reservations. As the weather changes and we want to be able to get out and enjoy the weather, I am with my colleagues to make sure that we can work as hard as possible with the restaurateurs and the City to make sure this opportunity is made available as soon as possible into the summer and spring, but even more so everyone's talking about 2026. We have a big opportunity in the City and we just need to get it right. So thank you to the City representatives for the work that they're doing to move this forward. Thank you to the restaurateurs. And thank you so much, Councilmember Landau, for bringing up this issue.
Thank you. Being no more questions, I appreciate your time -- sorry. There's one more coming to testify. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Thank you, Chairman and members. I don't want to prolong this. I just wanted to clarify a couple things from previous testimony. First, I just want to be clear that lighting is allowed in streeteries. The question I think that comes up is how the power is provided to those lightings. So it is correct that we do prohibit lines being extended from the building to the streetery, whether it's overhead or underground, and the reasoning it has to do with compliance with code, also not creating tripping hazards and not creating excavation for these. But what we expect is for people to use portable power. So powerpacks for lighting is perfectly acceptable. That's not a problem at all. The second thing, I want to clarify my own comments about the questions that have come up or have not come up on the guidelines. So in the process of issuing the latest round of guidance which came out in February, getting from the end of the pandemic to here, there were an abundance of questions and comments that have come in around that guidance. But since these guidelines were put out February of this year, we have not heard any questions from anybody through the Commerce Department, which has been the main department focused on the guidance. And specifically, what we're looking for is confusion about things. We understand that people don't like some of the things that are on the guidance. And so, we certainly want to do our best to make sure people are accommodated. But we're also very much concerned in the clarity. And I think you guys have been explicit, you want things to be clear and understandable. And so, that was what my comment was directed to. But of course, we look forward to making improvements and making this easier for people all around. So thank you for allowing me to correct those two things.
Okay. Thank you so much. Now, that will conclude our public --
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You stated the guidelines and folks have rolled into trying to comply to those guidelines. What is the process and policy to help people comply to what we have now and how can we make it so that we --
So as we're listening to testimony, I think it's worth also stating that we do have a system for appointments. Streets Department takes appointments for folks to address any issues that they have, with coming into compliance, with filling out the applications, with getting to the point where they have a license. And they do have staff within Streets Department that is dedicated to outdoor dining. Now, I think one of the things we need to look at is why people either don't feel like that's adequate, why they may not know about it and whether those folks need to have more visibility across the whole spectrum of, you know, I think we listed seven departments that are involved. And so, we can work to improve that, I think.
I think the other concern is that when they do apply, it takes long to get the comments back, right. And then they have to -- the way we notify them is we put it up in eCLIPSE, right. And then if they don't look at their eCLIPSE account, they don't know. So now, there's comments, they're waiting, you're waiting, we're waiting, right. Everybody's waiting, but there's got to be a way to notify and say, hey, these two things need to be changed.
Do we contact them just through putting that up in eCLIPSE? Do you send them an email?
I will have to take a closer look at that, and that may be something we need to push out, like you say a little bit more robustly so they can see and then be told to check eCLIPSE and come back to us, so that's something that we need to improve as well.
Okay. Thank you. Because the goal is to get people to have it open and comply and do the best we can, whatever the rules and regulations are or whatever we change them to. And this way just notifying them by putting it up in eCLIPSE, I don't think it's the best way to do that because they would have to go into their eCLIPSE account look and say, hey, do I have any comments yet and I already applied and not getting something back. And so, we go back and forth. And your staff is great. We harass the hell out of them when we're trying to get people up and running, because a lot of these are outside certain areas, are done through ordinance, right. So the ordinance has to be in compliance before we could then move forward with that.
So hopefully there's a path that's a little quicker and that no 9 notification is sent back and forth. So when we call, the Streets Department will say, oh, we sent the comment in; oh, we didn't know there was a comment; oh, we sent that back, Streets is reviewing it now; we didn't get it back, and it goes back and forth.
I was just going to add, if this is still on, one more comment. So for folks that do have --
Keisha Duckett, Streets Department. So for those that do have an application in with eCLIPSE, a lot of times they don't add a co- applicant. Typically what we encourage is that the applicant be whoever is the person who prepared the drawing and then the co- applicants can be the owner, owner/representative, anyone else, and then they will all receive a notification. Because a lot of times it may be the owner who's reaching out for the status, but they're not the one who was actually the applicant. By adding the co-applicants, they will all receive the same notifications, and that's an email.
Yes, the email goes into eCLIPSE and then they will all receive the notifications.
So we would need to inform them to put both the co-applicant on there?
Thank you. That concludes our public hearing. But I note there was an error when amending one of the bills, so we would have to enter back into the public meeting for an amendment to Bill No. 240122. For the record, we stated that there was amendment to Bill 21 No. 240022. However, the correct number is 240122. So I --
Never mind. So with that, Mr. Pullin, can you please read the names of folks who have provided a written testimony to be added to the public record.
Entering into the public record will be written testimony from Job Itzkowitz, Old City District; Jennifer Rodriguez, Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Ashley Thomas, Royal Restaurant Group; Katrina Johnston- Zimmerman, Think Urban; Owen Kamihara, El Camina Real; and nearly 100 survey responses from constituents provided to us by the Office of Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you so much, Mr. Pullin. This concludes the business before the Committee on Streets and Services today. Thank you very much for your attendance. (Committee on Streets and Services concluded at 2:46 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL