Business & Tech
‘Chicago Alfresco' Program Seeks New Ideas To Expand Outdoor Dining
No grant money can be used for individual businesses to purchase items such as dining tables and chairs or lighting.
CHICAGO (CBS) — While the outdoor dining program the city launched last year to help restaurants and bars survive the pandemic will continue this year, the city also is encouraging chambers of commerce and other neighborhood community groups to come up with longer-term designs for outdoor dining spaces.
“Outdoor dining has become a lifeline for so many of our neighborhoods, but not all of them have been able to take advantage of our safe, outdoor dining programs,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. “And by creating and transforming public spaces, the Chicago Alfresco initiative will significantly increase our city’s ability to fully revitalize the public way. Last year, we started this program out of necessity to help bars and restaurants stay open safely, now we’ve seen how well this program works and how much the City loves it, so we want to keep it going.”
