Seattle will permit restaurants and retail shops to open into traffic-less public streets one block at a time. Two months after the idea was publicized in local media, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced that street closure permits will be available for businesses to expand into some roadways, allowing better social distancing while keeping businesses open.
During the two months of summer since Councilmember Dan Strauss broached the open restaurant streets idea (weeks after The Urbanist did), Seattle experienced 40 days over 70 degrees and 41 days with little or no rain. Neighboring towns like Bothell and Port Townsend have set up and expanded their retail open streets to aid their business communities during the lovely Washington summer. Dozens of Seattle restaurants have permanently closed.
While awaiting the ability to use our public streets for eating and shopping safely, King County transitioned through the Modified Phase 1 reopening plan on June 5th to a full Phase 2 on June 19th. Both allowed restaurants to open for some dining. Over those same two months, King County increased from 8,000 Covid cases and 554 deaths to 13,661 cases with 659 deaths as of July 22th. Such deterioration in fighting the pandemic led to new guidance limiting the number of people allowed in groups, delays in future reopening plans, and Governor Jay Inslee’s admonishment that further rollbacks may be necessary.
Restricting streets to traffic has been possible in Seattle for more than two months, just nowhere it would help businesses. Permanent Stay Healthy Streets were announced on May 17th and more have been added since. They just run outside of business districts and core areas. Parking was shut down near parks since the early days of the pandemic. Unlike anything happening in commercial areas, parking at select parks has been adjusted.
Admittedly, the Mayor’s Office has been busy for the last two months. Seattle police started violently antagonizing protesters on May 29th, that same day that the dining streets discussion first appeared in the paper. The Mayor’s troops spent two weeks gassing and harassing activists who opened a street by public consensus. And the administration engaged in an extensive disinformation campaign against protesters. These things are time consuming and may delay reasonable accommodations for local business even outside the protest areas.
