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By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer
April 16 -- Setting a place for more open air wining
and dining on the Third Street Promenade, the Santa Monica
City Council Tuesday uncorked alcohol use at the two pavilions
that bookend the popular retail strip.
As an up-scale restaurant featuring outdoor food and wine
service prepares to move in north of Arizona Avenue, Council
members voted 5 to 1 to include dining with or without alcohol
at the Pavilions currently used as public space.
"This is a place of gathering, and I'd think it’s
time to expand” dining and alcohol, said Council member
Herb Katz, who introduced the motion.
For years, council members had moved forward with a smorgasbord
of guidelines to maintain and increase restaurants on the
Promenade, while keeping alcohol use in check by requiring
food service to keep a family atmosphere, Katz said.
"We have all these checks and balances and I think its
time we move ahead and let’s try this," he said.
However Council member Kevin McKeown said he and Council
member Ken Genser -- who was not at the meeting -- worried
the leasing change could set a standard that could threaten
the use of public space on the Promenade's center courts used
for performance art and political gatherings.
Instead of approving the guidelines, McKeown suggested approving
a change for the incoming restaurant, which has yet to be
named.
According to the area's lease guidelines, a waist-high fence
is mandated anytime alcohol is served.
"I think we should honor that contractual agreement,
but I'm not so sure that this is the time to make a general
policy decision which may be premature," he said.
While McKeown said he favored retaining and enticing more
restaurants to the Promenade, he was concerned about losing
public space to private companies.
"I'm not sure that when we said outdoor dining with
alcohol (we) meant fencing in a public space," he said.
McKeown explained his position after the meeting.
"I'm not against outdoor dining, or cheese, or wine,”
he said. “I'm against losing more of our scarce public
space in our own Downtown to privatized use, fenced off and
potentially blocking safety access.
"Sitting in the sun with a lunchtime sandwich on the
Promenade, or spending a summer evening at a table outdoors
people-watching with friends, shouldn't be privileges fenced
off for a select few. We should remember the Promenade is
a city right-of-way, a public space that belongs to all of
us."
Officials from the Bayside District Corporation -- the non-profit
organization that manages and helps set the guidelines for
leases on the Third Street Promenade -- said the change will
encourage restaurants to stay and flourish.
"Generally we believe that these guidelines should be
as flexible as possible," said Bayside Executive Director
Kathleen Rawson.
In 2005, the City council loosened restrictions by moving
away from a lengthy permitting process to administrative approval
for restaurants seeking to serve alcohol.
"That,” said Rawson, “was a big step in
helping restaurants move forward with a sense of security
with leases in the Downtown."
Tenant improvements are ongoing at the pavilion site, but
with the council's action last week, plans should move forward
to open the new outdoor dining venue in the next few weeks,
officials said.
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