Long Beach’s ‘open streets’ program extended through year’s end

The R Bar on Third Street has a large parkelt that offers more seating than their indoor capacity, in Long Beach on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG) Street closures and outdoor expansions for Long Beach businesses are here to stay — at least through the end of the year. The City Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday, Sept. 15, meeting to request the City Manager to extend parklet and parking lot permits for those businesses through the end of the year. The panel also asked the City Manager to look into making some of them permanent, including a permanent closure of Pine Avenue from Broadway to Fifth Street. The Long Beach City Council first approved the “open streets” program in June as a way to help restaurants and other businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic by allowing patrons to eat or shop outdoors. More than 200 parklet or parking lot permits have since been approved across the city through the program. And, according to business owners, the initiative is working as intended. Varouj Shekerdemian, co-owner of R Bar in downtown Long Beach, has turned five former parking spaces into the restaurant’s outdoor patio — complete with […]

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