By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

August 2, 2010 -- The City Council on Tuesday was supposed to vote on a municipal staff proposal to allow Ocean Avenue restaurants to use drop-down curtains for outdoor dining at night and when it rains. But instead, the council nixed the curtain restriction entirely, and it will allow restaurant managers to decide when it is appropriate to use them.

The staff proposal was to allow the curtains to go down after 6 p.m. from November through April and after 8 p.m. from May through October, as well as when it rains. Representatives from the three eateries affected by the law asked the council for slight adjustments to these proposals, including allowing for curtain use when it is windy.

By a 5-0 vote, the council concluded the restaurants should make the curtain call. Mayor Pro Tem Pam O’Connor and Council member Richard Bloom were not in attendance.

The curtains must be transparent. The rescinding of the ban is part of a pilot program. The council will address the matter again in one year.

“If at the end of the year, we hear from residents, ‘You know I’ve been driving up and down Ocean Avenue and it’s all walled-off and I feel that those restaurants really appropriated public space on the sidewalk,’ then I’d like to revisit this,” Council member Kevin McKeown said.

This issue came to the City’s attention after two Ocean Avenue restaurants--Boa and Makai—were cited for using drop-down curtains. The restaurant owners said they would challenge the enforcement actions through administrative appeals and in court.

Regarding the origin of this issue, McKeown said, “It’s very rare that I would propose that when somebody has been breaking the rules, that we react by simply rescinding the rule. But sometimes that’s the right thing to do. And this may be that time.”

Mayor Bobby Shriver said he believes that the restaurants can properly self-regulate, and most of the time they will keep the curtains up.

“People demand that the shades be put up when they sit down because they want to look at the ocean,” he said. “And they only demand they be put down if they are freezing.”

Shriver also said he would like to explore the amount of money the restaurants pay to the City for use of the public land for outdoor dining. Shriver said they currently pay “pretty diminutive prices,” which are much lower than the amount the restaurants pay to the landlords for use of the indoor space.

“As we are studying the City’s finances going forward, as everybody knows the City is in some financial difficulty, as are all cities in this state,” Shriver said. “That perhaps we would work with these folks and their leases to get their rent somewhat more within a market price.”

City staff recently hired a consultant to review this matter.

"If at the end of the year, we hear from residents, 'You know I've been driving up and down Ocean Avenue and it's all walled-off and I feel that those restaurants really appropriated public space on the sidewalk,' then I'd like to revisit this,"
     Kevin McKeown

“People demand that the shades be put up when they sit down because they want to look at the ocean,” he said. “And they only demand they be put down if they are freezing.”
    Bobby Shriver