East Passyunk, Northern Liberties cancel upcoming street closures to extend outdoor dining
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Two neighborhoods in Philadelphia announced they're closing streets to traffic to expand outdoor dining this weekend.
East Passyunk and Northern Liberties now say they are postponing their plans for a number of reasons.
East Passyunk's Open on the Ave was supposed to run today through Sunday.
It would have closed down a five-block strip to traffic so that almost 30 restaurants and shops could extend their outdoor dining and service space.
In a press release they wrote: "Given a number of outside circumstances, we decided to postpone Open on the Avenue. We plan to share a new date very soon."
Northern Liberties also planned to close 2nd Street Saturday, from Germantown to Spring Garden, for their StrEats event.
This would have allowed roughly 20 restaurants to extend their seating capacity into the street. But that also has been canceled.
Their press release says the city's Office of Transportation Infrastructure and Sustainability asked them to postpone it.
They cited the weather as well as the fact that they need more time to coordinate to address what they call "concerns over public health and safety."
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Even though other major cities and surrounding suburbs have been successfully implementing this, critics felt these closures would lead to more crowds.
Both neighborhoods insist that these are not events or festivals, just a chance to give our businesses more space.
