A total of 1,327 establishments across the city took advantage of CafeTO in 2022, 1,213 in 2021, and 801 in 2020.
Two grants for small businesses and Business Improvement Areas will continue in 2023, including the CafeTO Improvement Program, which will match 50 per cent of the cost of eligible patio space improvements up to a maximum of $7,500. The City's BIA CafeTO grant program will also support planter maintenance and curb lane closure design, with BIAs eligible to receive up to $5,000.
City Hall will approve CafeTO for yet another year, but the fees to restaurants will be steep. So much for the"help to restaurants during Covid" excuse for these in-street obstacles. We all know the real reason is to punish drivers and take still more pavement way from cars.
Never understood the appeal of sitting in a traffic lane with cars whizzing past you while you are eating.
Good. No one wants to sit on the road with some 2x4s separating them from live traffic - those are not “patios”.
better less patios than ugly patios that block traffic