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On Oct. 17, Hollister City Manager David Mirrione and Development Services Director Christine Hopper will be hosting a listening session on the future of parklets to seek guidance from downtown businesses and interested residents.
It has been almost exactly three years since businesses in Hollister began installing parklets on San Benito Street as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The construction, which began on Oct. 26, 2020, coincided with the reopening of restaurants and bars and allowed businesses to seat enough customers to be profitable while observing social distancing guidelines.
Intended as a temporary measure, the fate of the parklets has become uncertain following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Feb. 28 announcement that he was ending the COVID-19 state of emergency, removing the prime motivation for their continued use.
Mirrone said that there has so far been no discussion at the city level regarding the removal of the downtown parklets. He stressed that the listening session is not intended as a forum for the public to rally behind preserving the parklets, but to address other issues.
“Back in August,” Mirrione said, “I got direction from the City Council to look into concerns raised by merchants over code enforcement and signage. The idea is to talk and exchange ideas, to open up a dialogue and then report our findings back to the council for discussion.”
One matter of concern for some parklet owners has been the ability of restaurants, breweries and bars to serve alcohol to their outside customers, which they have been able to do under the state’s COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorization.
The authorization was issued in May 2020, following Newsom’s declaration of a COVID-19 state of emergency in March. It’s set to expire on Feb. 28, 2024, one year after lifting the state of emergency.
In a statement issued by Mirrone on Oct. 14, he confirmed that, even though pandemic-based permits will be expiring, his staff has recently confirmed with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control that downtown businesses would be able to apply for a non-COVID-based permit to continue to serve alcohol in their parklets.
BenitoLink conducted an informal survey of owners or employees of 10 businesses with parklets on San Benito Street and found a unanimous desire to retain them, with several expressing a concern that, should the parklets be removed, the economic consequences would be disastrous.
La Catrina Manager Gustavo Gonzalez estimates that, on a good day, his parklet accounts for around 40% of his business.
“Many of our customers like to sit outside,” he said. “I think they bring more business downtown, and the street looks better with them there. We have been able to hire more people, and, if they were taken away, we would at least need to reduce our hours.”
According to David Ramirez, owner of La Michelada, he would not have been able to hold the opening of his restaurant if he did not have his parklet.
“It put us in business,” he said, “and I think it has helped the street a lot. I have heard from my customers, my colleagues and other business owners, and they say there is definitely a before and after as far as how many people regularly come to this street since the parklets were built.”
Besides their financial impact, the parklets have had a positive impact on the walkability of San Benito Street as well, said Kathina Szeto, owner of Bene Gifts Hollister.
“I like that we were able to slow down the traffic here,” she said. “That has made it safer for our community to walk around and be better able to enjoy the diverse kinds of businesses we have downtown.”
Business owners who spoke to BenitoLink but do not make use of their parklets also believe parklets should stay.
Raul Escareno, owner of The Baler Restaurant, said that he knew other businesses have more use for their parklets than he does, and he is willing to stand up for them.
“Some of these places do not have a lot of indoor seating,” he said, “so the outdoor seating helps them. They get a lot of use out of the parklets, and I’m gonna fight for them because I respect them as business owners and as neighbors.”
The meeting is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building.
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