'How do we put the toothpaste back in the tube?” Should outdoor dining in public streets come to an end as the pandemic wears on two years later?
. But habits formed, or fortified, by the pandemic — most notably outdoor dining — are not so easy to turn the page on.
Many Pearl Street restaurateurs between Ninth and 11th streets are “pretty done” with the closure at this point, Chip said. They worry that the limited access in the last two years has hampered their ability to drum up business, and a slower sales recovery along the two-block stretch compared to other parts of Boulder attests to that.
“What the pandemic did is trigger a response from the community to look at our outdoor spaces and see what we could best do with them,” Chip said. Meanwhile, in Arvada, the city’s decision last year to turn several blocks in Olde Town into pedestrian-only zones where diners eat in the street has been popular, said Ryan Stachelski, the city’s director of community and economic development. In a recent survey the city conducted of residents, he said, 90% of respondents gave a thumbs up to the street closures.
Golden Mayor Laura Weinberg said she understands the position of the owners of Miners Saloon and the Golden Moon Speakeasy wanting outdoor space for their patrons, but she and her colleagues on the City Council have to take a wider view. With the Miners Alley Playhouse moving to the old Meyer Hardware building and rechristening itself as the Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, the mayor said, Miner’s Alley could serve as a grand entrance of sorts to a new and improved cultural attraction downtown.