OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor ([email protected]). The following letter is in response to recent letters to the editor and an article titled 'Councillors hope to resurrect 'See You on the Patio' program', published April 22.
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There has been a lot of discussion of late with regards to the See you on the Patio program on OrilliaMatters and its fate.
First, this is not about whether people enjoy eating outside; most people do, myself included. Also, no one said that restaurants can’t put out patios as they have in the past. This is about whether it is in fact beneficial for downtown Orillia, as a whole, to block off the main street.
It has been claimed that this (program) benefits all businesses downtown, but that simply is not true and there is no data to show otherwise.
When the program was first introduced there were businesses who stayed open and some even put out tables. After a few weeks, most of them stopped. I find it hard to believe they discontinued participating if it was beneficial.
From Peter Street to West Street there are a few businesses who are regularly open during that time; some are restaurants that deal more in take out. Blocking the street off makes It difficult for people who just want to use these businesses and could easily persuade them to go elsewhere, therefore hurting these businesses.
It does benefit the restaurants involved as they then get to have a patio setting without having to pay for the fees that would come with having one on the sidewalk.
Parking downtown is another issue, one that is often brought up on here, often over costs and accessibility. Blocking the street off eliminates parking spots, including designated spots for people with disabilities.
With even less spots, that means people who are using another business, or food delivery drivers are going to have to park even further away from their destination. On a normal day you will see people constantly double park, park in turning lanes that are marked 'no parking' or using spots (meant for disabled people) because there is no available street parking spots.
The parking lot across from Brewery Bay is a one-way drive-through off of Mississaga Street, making this parking lot unable to be used fully. Some of this could maybe be resolved with better bus services and taxi options, but then those are other ongoing issues.
Amongst all the discussions, there has been little mention as to the residents of downtown. Yes, when someone moves to downtown they should expect some noise. This program creates additional noise though as there are more people outside when normally there would be more dining inside.
Blocking the street off also can make it more difficult for residents to come and go from their home or even to have guests over. I have seen comments along the lines of these people should move if they don’t like it, it's part of living downtown. It was only introduced, temporarily, a few years ago so it isn’t part of living downtown.
By that same logic you could say the businesses pushing for this program knew the limitations to being downtown before they opened. Look at parts of downtown Toronto, such as Queen Street West, that were once filled with clubs and bars. Condos started going up and the noise complaints eventually shut them down as the courts decided with the residents.
They should have more of a say in this matter as it does affect their lives. I don’t think many people would want to have this outside their home every weekend, all summer. With the amount of grants towards living accommodations downtown and more condos being built now, maybe not the best idea to let potential buyers/renters know they have no say in what happens directly outside their home, potentially creating issues for landlords.
It is also in contrast to the city’s Downtown Tomorrow Community Development Plan to build a downtown for people to shop and live by catering to this one group.
Last year the program had been decided by the DOMB to just run on one night during summer weekends. A group of a few that benefit from this program then approached the Emergency Task Force about it, who voted to change the decision to run both nights to accommodate this group.
I know that none of this will change most people’s minds; people like to eat outside and are probably not affected otherwise, but you are likely not the businesses, who have to pay additional taxes being downtown to pay for programs like this, or residents paying to live downtown, both of which want a return to normal as well.
The restaurants can still pay to put out patios and there are other amazing restaurants around Orillia with outside dining.
Expecting the other businesses and residents of downtown to be negatively impacted so a few can benefit and compete with other establishments, who are able to accommodate outside dining, is not acceptable and should not happen. This program was intended to help businesses during COVID mandates, which are now lifted.
Jason Harrison
Orillia
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