City of Eugene extends "streatery" program for restaurants

The City of Eugene is extending an outdoor café seating program for another six months to help restaurants stay in business.

The general population.

The weather might be getting colder but outdoor seating is here to stay at some restaurants in downtown eugene.

Kezi 9 news reporter emma withrow spoke to restaurant owners who are planning to embrace the extension of the streatery program.

Emma: for some restaurants with limited seating inside, social distancing is slim to impossible, so with the city of eugene giving them the option to expand outdoors it's making all the difference.

The city created the temporary program earlier this year to help restaurants operate under the state's covid-19 guidelines.

The permits for the initial program expire at the end of october, but now the city is extending the program until april joe williams, owner of bartini bistro:"hopefully within the next couple weeks we'll be able to expand, with outdoor heating and to see what other people are inovating with as far as covers and protection from the elements" with williams bistro only having a small seating capacity indoors... the streatery permit will give him the freedom to accommodate more customers while still following guidelines.

"we have the doors open as much as possible to allow fresh air to come through but nothing will be better than adding a few more tables outside."

Emma: coming up at 6 we'll hear about the challenges that come with street seating as we head into the colder months.

Reporting in eugene now your first forecast with