{"id":23465,"date":"2015-07-14T06:01:35","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T10:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=23465"},"modified":"2015-07-14T03:08:21","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T07:08:21","slug":"sidewalk-dining-debate-carries-over-to-central-cac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2015\/07\/14\/sidewalk-dining-debate-carries-over-to-central-cac\/","title":{"rendered":"Sidewalk Dining Debate Carries Over to Central CAC"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the many topics of discussion at last week\u2019s monthly meeting of the Central CAC was a proposed change to the city\u2019s private use of public space ordinances.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

James Borden \/ Raleigh Public Record<\/p>

The Central CAC heard a presentation on the city’s plans for changes to the sidewalk-dining ordinances<\/p><\/div>Will Marks, a resident of Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, was on hand last Monday to present his thoughts on the city\u2019s private use of public space ordinances; specifically, the sidewalk-dining text change that came before City Council in June.<\/p>\n

Marks argued that the initial intent of the sidewalk-dining ordinance, last updated in 1999, was to allow restaurants to provide an outdoor dining area for their patrons.<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/a>

LinkedIn<\/p>

Will Marks<\/p><\/div>In recent years, Marks said, several private clubs \u2014 under North Carolina law, any establishment that serves alcohol but does not generate at least 30 percent of its revenue from food is defined as a private club \u2014 have been taking advantage of the ordinance\u2019s ambiguity and the city\u2019s reluctance to enforce what Marks described as its original intent.<\/p>\n

This, he said, has led to problems with noise, litter and pedestrian access to sidewalks.<\/p>\n

As originally proposed, the text change would have specifically prohibited private clubs from using sidewalk space for patrons wishing to sit outdoors. A public backlash against the limitation led Council last month to send the proposed change to the Law & Public Safety Committee for further analysis.<\/p>\n

Two alternatives presented at last month\u2019s L&PS meeting would both allow businesses such as Paddy O\u2019Beers and the Raleigh Wine Shop to continue to offer seating on a portion of the sidewalks in front of their businesses. The original text change, which would have restricted private clubs, was thrown out.<\/p>\n

Marks criticized the backlash that brought about these alternatives, arguing that business owners, who have said a prohibition on outdoor seating could cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, had no ground to stand on.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people feel like they\u2019re having their rights being taken away; nobody is taking their rights away. It\u2019s called private use of public space,\u201d Marks said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a privilege that the city confers on businesses \u2014 it\u2019s not a right that can be taken away \u2014 and with privileges come responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/a>

James Borden \/ Raleigh Public Record<\/p>

Large crowds turned out to a Law & Public safety meeting last month to oppose potential restrictions on sidewalk dining ordinances<\/p><\/div>Marks ended his speech with a warning that the current private use of public space ordinances were merely the \u201ctip of the spear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole city\u2019s going to become an entertainment district,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonoculture is weak and boring, diversity is powerful and interesting. We need an interesting city, not a boring city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marks\u2019 comments were received enthusiastically by the large crowd, which had packed the meeting room at the Top Greene Community Center.<\/p>\n

Although Marks had invited Councilors Stephenson and Weeks, both in attendance that night, to chime in on his presentation, neither had anything to add.<\/p>\n

When approached afterward, Stephenson said he saw the sidewalk dining issue largely as one of enforcement, echoing sentiments expressed by Councilor Mary Ann Baldwin during last month\u2019s Law & Public Safety meeting.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/a>

James Borden \/ Raleigh Public Record<\/p>

Large crowds forced last months Law Public Safety meeting to move down to the council chambers<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the many topics of discussion at last week\u2019s monthly meeting of the Central CAC was a proposed change to the city\u2019s private use of public space ordinances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24061,"featured_media":23461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24061"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}