DOWNTOWN — A popular outdoor dining program along a Downtown stretch of Clark Street won’t return this summer after opposition from neighborhood groups and the Chicago Federation of Labor — and a promise from the alderman.
Providing a lifeline to restaurants during the pandemic lockdowns, the Chicago outdoor dining program allowed eateries to expand seating onto sidewalks, streets and parking lots. Mayor Brandon Johnson made the program permanent in May, allowing restaurants to apply for expanded outdoor dining permits.
Groups of three or more restaurants, taverns or breweries on the same block can apply for full street closures to expand outdoor patios. If approved, the permits are valid May 1-Oct. 31.
In River North, the popular Clark Street Dining Program effectively shut down a three-block stretch of Clark Street from Grand Avenue and Kinzie Street while keeping east-west streets in between open to car traffic.
The program proved lucrative for restaurant owners along the stretch, with patios often full during peak hours. Havana Grill, 412 N. Clark St., was able to double its restaurant seating and double profits, said Noe Bautista, the restaurant’s general manager.
“The kitchen gets extra hours. Servers, the busboys and everyone gets more tips. So there’s more revenue, and it brings a more friendly environment to the neighborhood,” Bautista said.
Rick Bayless, owner of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo on Clark Street, told Crain’s the program brought in extra revenue and added to the atmosphere in the neighborhood.
“People want to stay in a place where they feel like they can just leave their hotel and walk out on the street and it’s like a party,” he said in 2022.
Boss Bar, Bub City, The Smith and Lil Ba Ba Reeba benefitted from the outdoor dining program on Clark, too.
Letters obtained by Block Club show three neighborhood groups — the River North Residents Association, Gold Coast Neighbors Association and the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents — opposed continuing the dining program.
The letters, sent to Johnson in May, highlighted concerns about traffic congestion and public safety.
“We are not opposed to all street closures for outdoor dining but have concerns about closures on major arterial roads like Clark Street, even on a temporary 2-3 month basis,” wrote Eileen Murray and Debra Schalk, co-presidents of the River North Residents Association.
The Streeterville Organization of Active Residents aired similar concerns in October 2022, according to the Sun-Times.
“This proposed closure is in close proximity to the interim casino at Medinah Temple, and it will cause even more traffic gridlock issues, which impacts delayed response times for emergency vehicles, public transportation and deliveries,” Deborah Gershbein, president of the Streeterville group, wrote to Johnson.
Representatives from several unionized restaurants in the area had similar concerns, said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor.
The union group joined the effort to halt the Clark Street program at the request of nearby restaurants after the neighborhood groups wrote to Johnson, Reiter said. One of those restaurants was Harry Caray’s, Reiter said. It sits a block away from the Clark Street restaurants on Kinzie and didn’t benefit from the outdoor dining program.
Restaurant owners would not be opposed to the program if it closed a road other than Clark Street, Reiter said.
“No one’s against closing down [a] street for the summer dining program. It was closing down Clark Street because of it being a major north-south thoroughfare,” Reiter said. “If you close down Clark Street, then you jam up people driving in and out, and it affects everybody but the people who double their seating.”
In a June letter to Grant DePorter, CEO of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said he promised to review future proposals to close Clark Street with a “very narrow focus.” Any future requests to shut down Clark Street would likely be denied due to a “number of changes in the neighborhood.”
“Because I appreciate your concerns, after the 2023 [Extended Outdoor Dining] season, I will not approve any future [Extended Outdoor Dining] permit requests to close Clark Street to vehicular traffic,” Reilly wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Block Club.
And Reilly told neighbors in a July newsletter the permit would not be renewed this year.
In a statement on Twitter, Reilly said he was forced to send the letter, saying Johnson’s administration wouldn’t allow him to close Clark Street for outdoor dining in 2023 unless he supplied them with the letter.
“The President of the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Mayor’s now disgraced former floor leader (Ramirez-Rosa) led a conference call with various city departments to negotiate the street closure for last summer with a demand that it would be the final year of the program,” Reilly wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
“My constituents & businesses loved my idea to close Clark Street for dining. The Police Department also thought it made the area more safe. But Mayor Johnson chose to kill this program on behalf of his allies in organized labor.”
Reilly previously alluded to a conflict with Johnson in a previous statement to Block Club, saying he’s “disappointed” in how the situation has been handled.
“Last spring, when fighting with the Mayor’s Office to approve outdoor dining on Clark Street (which they initially refused to do), the Mayor’s Office, [Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection] and CDOT would only do so with the stipulation there would be no outdoor dining this year,” Reilly said in a statement to Block Club.
“I was very disappointed that the new administration chose the approach that they did, but ultimately the city department, not the aldermen, issue the permits for these closures.”
Transportation department officials denied the program was discontinued this year, pointing to the city ordinance, which allows any three restaurants along the same block to apply for the permit.
“Per city ordinance, CDOT reviews all applications for street and curb lane closures and seeks input from multiple other city departments and from the Alderman of the impacted ward. So far this year, CDOT has not received any permit applications for expanded outdoor dining on Clark Street in River North,” department spokesperson Erica Schroeder said in a statement.
Restaurants can still apply, but Reiter said the permits will likely be denied.
“From what I understand … getting emergency vehicles and other things, this was not the optimal street to close down from anyone’s perspective other than people who directly benefited from it,” Reiter said.
Gershbein said she had the same understanding after speaking with Reilly’s office.
“They can apply, but that doesn’t mean they’ll get it,” Gershbein said.
Schroeder did not specifically answer questions about potentially denying outdoor dining permits along Clark Street, pointing to the department’s policy for reviewing dining street closure applications.
That process includes input from the city’s business, fire, police and emergency management departments, as well as the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities and neighborhood stakeholders.
Ultimately, the department “shall issue the Outdoor Dining Street Permit to the applicant if the Commissioner finds that the applicant meets the applicable requirements and the alderman’s recommendation is that the permit application should be approved,” according to city policy.
The Mayor’s Office referred Block Club to the transportation department for comment and did not answer questions about Reilly’s statements.
In November 2022, Reilly expressed some concerns about closing down Clark Street again for expanded dining but did not say he was explicitly against it. At the time, his office had only fielded a “handful of complaints” about the Clark Street closure and neighbors overwhelmingly supported the program, Reilly told the Sun-Times.
An April 2023 survey of “thousands” of residents by Reilly’s office showed overwhelming support for the program, he said.
“This program was originally my idea and has been incredibly popular with local businesses, law enforcement and my constituents,” he told Block Club. “It is a shame that the administration has taken the position that that they have on this issue.”
The end of the outdoor dining program on Clark is a letdown to Bautista, who said he invested at least $3,500 every outdoor dining season to prepare his expanded dining patio, including displaying flowers and palm trees on the block.
Havana Grill was supposed to buy new outdoor tables this year, but Bautista decided to wait after hearing the program’s future was uncertain.
“Part of me wanted to believe that there was hope … that this could be open again,” Bautista said. “I had already hired someone to do the plants outside … but I guess I’m going to cancel them.”
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