Phase One of Gov. Charlie Baker’s re-opening plan does not allow restaurants to serve customers indoors or outdoors. So Needham has come up with a creative alternative.
The town has established three outdoor dining spaces for restaurant-goers to enjoy takeout food and even alcohol. Picnic tables, spaced apart to allow for social distancing, were set up yesterday on the Town Common, Needham Heights Common and Eaton Square (the plaza between Needham Bank and Needham Center commuter rail tracks).
Patrons may take their food and beverages, including alcohol purchased as part of a meal, to any of the outdoor tables. (Alcohol may not be consumed outside of the designated areas.) But take note; it’s strictly BYOHS (that’s bring your own hand sanitizer), wipes, corkscrews/bottle openers etc.
Strong yes – who would oppose this? Great job by the Town of Needham, the Newton-Needham Chamber, and whoever else was involved. Picnic tables are an optimal use of public spaces and the only reason there aren’t more of them is to keep adolescents and the homeless out of sight.
There was pretty decent turnout (and idling police cruisers) at the two Needham Center locations and there were also a couple of people in the Heights when we passed by there. At least one table in each location seemed to be ADA compliant and there was even a canopy for three of the tables in the center of the common. Curfew is posted as 11pm, which shouldn’t be an issue since Needhamites go to bed around 8:45.
The cynic in me marvels at how quickly and efficiently a project like this can be implemented when there’s a commercial (restaurateurs’ revenue) and/or financial (meals tax) incentive at play. At any other point in time if there had been a simple citizens’ petition to place picnic tables on the town common for quality-of-life reasons, then of course it wouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in hell.
Anyway, it was a beautiful evening and the picnic tables are a most welcome addition – if there were any way to put up a movie screen on the side of Town Hall then we’d be inching into the cultural league of (suburban) Montreal. I just hope the tables don’t go away when/if the IRR turns negative.
I just checked the Town of Needham announcement on this, and now I notice:
Obviously that shouldn’t be allowed – it’s public land, i.e. the Town Common and the tables should be available on a first-come, first-served basis to everyone, no purchase necessary. Why must the system always be gamed? It’s utterly exhausting having to keep tabs on local governments in these towns – which is obviously by design.
They could roll out AstroTurf on the Newton Centre parking lot and put the picnic tables there. It would be a great experiment in transforming the village.
@Michael
Agree with the sentiment, but restaurant owners must be entitled to *some* redress for the deprivation of the use of their property by the government. This feels like a reasonable accommodation.
@Donald, in that case the town should be allowing the fitness club in the Heights to roll out its equipment onto the Memorial Park playing surface, the debt collection agency in the Industrial Center to set up open-air cubicles in the street parking along First Ave., the secondhand clothing shop to open an intake facility at the Recycling and Transfer Station, etc.
I presume that the “restaurant patron” language was included in the public information officer’s press release just to make a few people happy because the only actual signage that we noticed was “no alcohol beyond this point” and “area closes at 11pm.”
Wonderful idea.
I’d love to see Newton shut down Union St in Newton Center and a few blocks of Walnut St in Newtonville (reroute cars onto Lowell) and set up similar outdoor safe eating spaces for the public. If those worked well there are other interesting possibilities around the city.
Well, the problem as proposed is that Newton ordinance 20-5 prohibits the consumption of alcohol “while in or upon public parks, playgrounds, recreation or conservation areas, public buildings, public parking lots and public ways, private parking lots and private ways to which the public has access.” Also, while public consumption of alcohol is left to local regulation, under Massachusetts law, Chapter 138, Sec. 12 the sale of alcohol by restaurants and inns is for the purpose of consumption on their premises (summarizing here). There is a provision which allows a customer to take remove a bottle they have not finished consuming off of the premises, so long as the seller seals the bottle for the customer.
Restaurants have a hefty mark-up on alcohol, so I prefer to bring my take out home where I can enjoy it with a really good glass of wine for the same price that a restaurant charges for really mediocre wine. That said, I’m looking forward to the days when we can go back to dining-in at restaurants. But to quote Elton John, “I think it’s gonna be a long, long time…”
Jerry:
Have you been down Walnut Street in Newtonville lately? The city is moving damn fast on the Village rehab. Sidewalks on one side are in, the other side has been demolished. Until they finish the job, I doubt you’d want to eat along the street. Might be a little noisy. And dusty.
I will also say that I think the fact that they are moving quickly on this work while the businesses are largely shut down and traffic is much lower is a great idea. I just wish the final plan and the finishes were more widely advertised to the public. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the finished product will include the lighting, seating, and plantings that the community was promised.
As for the idea, I think the city should offer every restaurant a parklet in front of their building until full occupancy is available, and grants to purchase outdoor tables, seats, and the ability to rope off areas. The parklets can be temporary. I go out to eat at an outdoor cafe, but not indoor.
Central Square in Cambridge has some nice roped off dining areas, but I think that their sidewalks – at least in the area I’m thinking of, are much wider than anything on Union Street or the streets mentioned.
Something I did not think of until after I posted regarding dining on picnic tables and whatnot is the fact that there’s really no way for people to sanitize tables and chairs provided in these spaces. I’d hate to be the poor person who sits down for a meal at the picnic table somebody just sneezed all over and left for me. Yuck.
Fully support the idea.
Thanks for posting, Greg.
How is this form of seating conceptually different – other than the newness of the spread out seating areas in that location + more seating clusters – to picnic tables that already exist in places like the Newton Center green? (Our family has enjoyed picnics at these tables with takeout from Four Spoons or Jumbo Seafood, though certainly not in recent months.)
While I’d personally be okay with ordering take-out items to eat at home or al fresco in the yard, I’d be wary of using shared tables at this time, without a clear plan for how they’d be sanitized between groups of diners. Further, how is this sort of shared surface any different from surfaces at play structures, which are still not to be used? One might imagine creative ways there to keep families/children spaced apart, but the underlying surface sanitation remains an issue…
I really like this idea. Spread-out outdoor dining is certainly the safest option, and I think that it would increase take-out dining if there were somewhere convenient and safe to eat the food. People want to get out of their homes and enjoy the nicer weather. Yes, outdoor seating at restaurants can also work, but how many people can really be seated and social distance between parties? This would complement, not compete with outdoor seating options at the restaurant.
I think it’s a great idea! And no reason that families couldn’t bring their own chairs and a small table, and pop them up in a designated spot. Add in some live music from New Phil musicians, and it will almost seem like a normal night out.
Love the idea but a big No to picnic table which are very unfriendly to seniors and anyone who is has trouble climbing in and out of them. Some more creative and flexible seating options should be imagined
@Claire, good point – a few of the picnic tables in Needham have space for wheelchair users, e.g. https://rogueengineer.com/diy-wheelchair-accessable-picnic-table-plans/
But you’re right that getting in and out of picnic tables is a challenge for most seniors. Maybe the city could provide some form of pull-up seating to accompany the adapted tables.
A complement or alternative could be the Jardin du Luxembourg chairs they have in Paris, or maybe the cheapie version that the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy puts out each summer. Either way, outdoor seating makes everyplace better.
Jardin du Luxembourg
My favorite!
Love the idea in theory. I don’t think shared picnic tables without anyone managing the cleaning of them is wise, so this isn’t something my family will be doing right now. We can’t get our hands on Clorox wipes to bring with us. However if it’s grassy areas, I’d bring a picnic blanket.
I also agree with the sentiment that it doesn’t make sense for this to exist while playgrounds are off-limits. I think this sends mixed messages to the community.
So I like the idea, but it needs to be executed safely and thoughtfully.
I won’t be going out to eat either, indoors or outdoors. But I can say that most of us don’t need to buy disposable wipes that go to a landfill after a single use. It’s really easy to make a weak bleach solution—the CDC recommends a ratio of 4 tsp. bleach to a quart of water—and keep some near the door. Squeeze a little onto one of those lightweight, multi-use kitchen cloth wipes and put it in a ziplock bag to carry with you when you go anywhere. I use mine for pedestrian “walk” buttons, the gas pump handle, and my own front doorknob when I get home.