One of the most minor changes of the pandemic, when I only drank coffee at home for a year or two, is that now that I've returned to buying caffeinated drinks from cafes, I only will treat myself to coffee when I can drink it out of an actual glass. Why spend all that money on a fancy beverage just to drink it from a plasticy paper cup that doesn't hold any temperature and immediately goes in the trash?
This effete intro is to set the stage for this morning when I stopped by Signal Coffee Roasters, sat down at a table alongside the sidewalk on Webster Street, sipped an espresso drink from a ceramic cup, and watched as a construction crew used an angle grinder to remove the unpermitted posts:
The smell of cutting metal was a bit unpleasant (even if it took me back to my time in school building sets for plays and musicals), so I took my ceramic dishware to Signal's back patio. When I left about an hour later, the cutting was nearly complete:
As I headed off, the construction crew had advanced to preparing the large-gauge metal pipes that will replace some of the existing parking meter poles. The key difference between these new additions and the unpermitted bollards is that the new hardening will be immediately alongside the curb in the "furnishings" zone, not in the "pedestrian access route" portion of the sidewalk, which must remain open for everyone on foot, in wheelchairs, or pushing strollers.
Thank you to the construction crew and to this dispensary for following through on its requirements to the City of Alameda. Thank you to city staff for ensuring that this work is now actually happening. (Presumably a code enforcement officer will come to confirm that everything is completed satisfactorily at the end.) Thanks also to a City Council member who shared an update on this in advance.
To reiterate and make clear this series of blog posts: This business isn't to blame for feeling the need to urgently protect its facility. However, having a storefront abutting a public sidewalk in an Alameda comes with responsibilities. The City of Alameda would do well to better coordinate across all departments who are charged with supporting these responsibilities (including not just Public Works and Planning, but also APD in its communications with local businesses). For the Alameda's business districts to be competitive with shopping centers, the businesses along Webster Street and Park Street need to have clear guidance, readily available options to improve the streetscape, and effective enforcement of code violations if necessary. And in the longer term, these are physical and functional factors that the city can keep in mind while beginning to plan safe cycling facilities for the Park and Webster corridors to build in ~2030.
We all want our business districts to have successful businesses and to be accessible to everyone.