Mayor Charlie Hales’ push to create a vibrant, walkable “entertainment district” in Old Town took a step forward earlier this month, when the Portland Police Bureau began fielding applications from bars and restaurants who want to extend seating into the area’s cordoned streets.
That’s a potential game changer for a district that’s struggled to find its feet this summer. Despite the mayor’s talk of creating a “street festival” atmosphere, and the addition of portable toilets in recent weeks, the closed-off segments of NW 3rd and adjacent streets still feel empty and eerie most Saturdays.
But more than two weeks after the city announced it would accept applications, only one Old Town business has taken them up on the offer. According to documents obtained by the Mercury via open records request, the Dixie Tavern, at NW 3rd and Couch, is the lone bar in the area with aspiring streetward.
The tavern’s owners, Concept Entertainment, applied August 16 to install a 780-square-foot seating area in NW Couch during the weekend closures. The enclosure would hold 48 seats and house a food stand, according to plans Concept provided. Portland police approved the plan a week ago.
City rules dictate the seating enclosures can extend no more than 10 feet into the road, and must be staffed by at least one bouncer. They can contain performers and food carts, the city says, but no “adult entertainers/nude dancers,” speakers or games. Businesses have to file an additional application with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission if they want alcohol allowed in street seating areas.
Begun under then-Mayor Sam Adams late last year, the entertainment zone concept has been a priority of Hales’ who has repeatedly pushed it as a way to make the nightclub district more safe. Not everyone’s been enthused about the project, though. Businesses complain it’s hurting the bottom line, and Old Town residents don’t like the legitimacy it gives to rowdy antics that can take place in the area. Even several city commissioners, who acquiesced earlier this year to Hales’ request for an extension to the program, have had hard questions.
The pilot project is now scheduled to end October 27.
A smaller section should simply be cut off for pedestrian-use only uses, 24/7. That way, there wouldn’t be scary “no parking” signs, cars being towed away, uncertainty about the longevity of the district, etc.
Portland has plenty of great examples as precedents. Several portions of NW Kearny street in the Pearl are pedestrian-only; the alley by Voodoo Doughnuts, since being walled off, has become a vibrant eating plaza; and the streets around SW 3rd and Harrison are surrounded by pedestrian walkways, cutting off “streets” that would otherwise have been carved through.
The “entertainment zone” is a good idea, but it needs to be permanently adopted – even if that has to happen on a smaller scale.
I’m sure the OLCC is going out of its way to be accommodating to this plan and to businesses who now want to have outdoor seating where there was none before.