June 26, 2020
They might come. Maybe not Shoeless Joe or even this guy on a bike, but somebody looking for a place to have lunch might. Just not today. That’s how it felt on a stretch of 9th Ave in the 30’s this afternoon.
A number of restaurants had leapt at the Phase 2 reopening this week that green lit outdoor eating. It was an awkward compromise meant to get some revenue flowing into these hard hit businesses without inviting the novel coronavirus back to kill any more of us. So outdoors, social distance, and face covers will get you a menu now in our town.
What we observed was that some streets are better suited to this initiative than others, and by others we mean 9th Avenue. It’s one of the more trafficked lanes on this island, with never ending waves of vehicles heading downtown or into the Lincoln Tunnel. So noise and fumes galore for sure. But beyond that, it must feel unnerving to sit in the street while vehicles roar by just a few feet away or less.
Vehicles jumped onto sidewalks and ran over pedestrians fairly regularly here already. Now that 2 legged eaters are encroaching on 4 wheeler turf, we shudder to think of the catastrophic possibilities. Needless to say, there are some bad drivers out there and even the good ones may be surprised to see a party of 4 sharing a bowl of nachos in the next lane as they drive by. We’ll stick with sidewalk cafes and rooftop bars for now, thank you.
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