Council gives nod to 2021 return to CafeTO
Nearly 900 restaurants took part in 2020, many crediting the program with their survival during the pandemic
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Assuming provincial pandemic measures loosen in the coming months, expect to see restaurants once again offering curbside dining in the city.
A motion passed Friday by Toronto City Council paved the way for the return of CafeTO, a popular city program greatly loosening requirements for city eateries to provide outdoor dining options, including on sidewalks, parking lots and specially-designated and blocked-off curb lanes.
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Introduced last June, the program provided struggling restaurants — prohibited for much of 2020 from offering indoor dining — a means to wait on and serve sit-down customers.
In 2020, 897 restaurants participated in CafeTO, converting over 9,600 metres of curb-lane roadway into outdoor dining space.
Many councillors wanted to see the program return with changes, including Josh Matlow — who introduced a motion requesting transportation services to work with local business improvement areas (BIAs) to improve the safety and design of curb-lane patios.
“Many of the CafeTOs, admittedly, have the look and feel of a construction staging area,” he said, pointing to comments that many of the curb line patios were delineated from traffic using temporary barriers and in some cases orange road cones — citing concerns of both aesthetics and safety.
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Mayor John Tory, who was delighted to see people out patronizing restaurants over the summer — even after restaurants were permitted to resume limited indoor dining — said he would like to see it made permanent.
2021 CafeTO registration will begin in late February, with the first curb lane closures anticipated to begin in May, dependent on COVID-19 public health measures.
A city-lead survey suggests 66% of bar and restaurant owners credit CafeTO with allowing them to remain in business, 90% of customers were satisfied with their experience, and 95% of respondents want the program to return for 2021.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
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