Expanded Outdoor Dining
No longer car-free, the new Clark Extended Outdoor Dining district is a lot less appetizing
Local alder Brendan Reilly (42nd) encourages fans of the former pedestrianized restaurant zone to bend Mayor Johnson's ear on the issue.
Tasty news: Friedman Properties is trying to break the Clark outdoor dining stalemate by applying for street closure permits
Mayor Johnson's administration and Ald. Reilly haven't yet found common ground on bringing back the popular car-free zone. Will this make the difference?
Meanwhile in the West Loop: Despite the Clark controversy, Fulton and Randolph will likely have on-street dining again this year
"I certainly know what [Expanded Outdoor Dining] has done for the West Loop area," West Central Association's Rod Burch, who's enthusiastic about the program.
More from Ald. Reilly: To save the Clark dining district, I offered to pedestrianize parts of Kinzie and Dearborn, but Harry Caray’s declined
Reilly also promised to approve a permit for Clark if he's given the chance, and said the best strategy for saving the car-free district is for residents to lobby Mayor Johnson.
Alderman Reilly: Here’s the nitty gritty of how the ill-conceived plan to kill the Clark Street car-free dining district came about
Regarding a factually incorrect tweet he posted this week, Reilly admitted, "I was pretty fired up. I did go too far... No, I don't think the Chicago Federation of Labor muscled this through."
Giving the pedestrianized Clark Street dining district back to cars this summer would be a very foolish thing to do
Ald. Reilly says the car-free restaurant strip is not coming back this year, but here's why that would be a really bad idea.
