Street closures and outdoor dining in River North helped restaurants get through the pandemic. Now, some businesses and neighborhood groups say the closures cause traffic congestion and other problems.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
My family is the proud owner of multiple establishments here in this great city, including Moe’s Cantina in River North. This community has long been known as a vibrant and exciting hospitality destination filled with local, independently owned restaurants and bars, hotels and attractions that line our beautiful Chicago River to the north and serve as an artery to the heart of downtown across five bridges.
So when COVID-19 hit, River North took a punch to the gut.
Steps taken by federal and local governments to help soften the blow and get us through the pandemic were welcome and necessary.
One of those programs included the city’s street dining program in 2020, which included three blocks along Clark Street in River North. Our family and many other businesses welcomed this program, even though most of us did not benefit from it directly, as our community of restaurants needed all the creativity we could get at the height of COVID-19 to generate revenue and stay afloat.
When the program returned in 2021, we welcomed it once more.
In 2022, the program came around once again. But this time, it came with challenges.
Unlike 2020 and 2021, the traffic that had all but disappeared during the pandemic returned. When Clark Street closed once more for street dining, the gridlock came back with a vengeance.
The unintended consequence of this traffic gridlock wreaked havoc on neighboring restaurants, bars, hotels, places of entertainment and above all, residences. Many customers grew fed up with traffic and ditched coming to many venues surrounding the Clark Street closure, choosing other options situated in areas that didn’t force them to sit in a car for 10 minutes at a time to make it down one city block.
River North residents, particularly those residing at The Sterling, situated at the base of the Clark Street dining program, spoke about the difficulty of getting deliveries to their residences and getting picked up by taxis and ride share cars at their door. More importantly, if someone had a health or safety emergency at The Sterling, or any of the surrounding businesses, precious minutes would be lost by police, paramedics and other safety personnel trying to get to that location and help.
A broken promise
Dozens of businesses, as well as resident representatives and neighborhood associations — from The Magnificent Mile Association and River North Residents Association to the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association and Gold Coast Neighbors Association — went on the record with the city asking that the dining program in River North come to an end.
In response to these concerns, city and local businesses that benefited from the street dining program pushed to continue it, and as good neighbors, we agreed to its return for one last time in 2023 — despite the many challenges that came hand-in-hand with Clark Street’s closure. Our alderperson promised in a public report that 2023 would be the program’s last year, and we trusted and relied on that information and the information from the city that 2023 would indeed be the last year.
But here we are in 2024, and one of the few business owners to benefit from the Clark Street dining program has filed for a permit to once again close the street for months on end. If the permit is granted, the long-standing River North community will continue to be crushed by the program’s impact on traffic congestion and safety. Businesses in this community will continue to shutter, and residents will be forced to rethink the cost of living in this area.
The closure hasn’t just hurt River North. It is choking off a major artery to the Loop — which is in desperate need of visitors — while clogging traffic as far north as Old Town and Streeterville.
And when you factor in the impact on traffic that the Democratic National Convention will have on our city this August, the closure of Clark Street will only make a bad situation for drivers, businesses and residents that much worse.
COVID-19 is in our rearview mirror. It’s time for pandemic-era programs like the Clark Street dining program to also come to an end. The well-being of residents from Old Town to the Loop, and the financial well-being of dozens of businesses here in River North, should not be put at risk again for the benefit of a mere handful of entities.
Korina Sanchez is vice president and general counsel of Third Coast Hospitality.