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GenericReditAccount t1_ixdq25j wrote

I disagree, but have been thinking about it recently as well.

I assume there’s an application and fee associated with restaurants using these extensions. If that’s the case, if the fee is adequate, and the neighborhood still likes them, then great. 🤷‍♂️

I guess the question is, in a non-pandemic world, how much public space should be given to private companies, and under what conditions? Is the fact that a significant portion of tax payers seem to like them, enough to keep the program? Should that public space be given back to general use, now that the pandemic is “over”? Are commercial property owners paying taxes on the extra land that has basically become an extension of their building?

I’d personally prefer this over car parking, but I think the question is valid.

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PalpitationNo3106 t1_ixean13 wrote

Perhaps. But the District also makes a lot of money off taxes from restaurants and bars. A parking space on 18th street generates $2.30/hour for 11.5 hours a day, six days a week. That’s $158.70 a week. Of course there is some overlap, it’s not exact metering, as well as some empty time. Let’s call it $200/week. Now you put four two tops in that space. Much of the day they are empty, of course, but after five you serve ten people. And on Thursday-Sunday you serve twenty people a day. That’s 100 people. Each person spends $25. That’s $2500 in revenue. And $250 in sales tax, from that same space.

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Appropriate-Bed-8413 t1_ixen15x wrote

Storage for private automobiles is an absolutely horrific use of public space. Encourages congestion. Brings in pollution. Requires maintenance with more road traffic. Crates more impermeable surface area. Requires enforcement. Brings in very little revenue.

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GenericReditAccount t1_ixeop2l wrote

I agree! I happen to enjoy the streeteries and utilize them often. It’s an interesting conversation regardless.

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