Last week, Toronto bar and restaurant owners with sidewalk patios got bad news. The city’s licensing staff recommended hiking the fee that allows patios serving alcohol to operate on public property. In some cases — for example at Northwood’s expansive patio in Bloordale — by as much as 1,000 per cent.
If that looks like a typo, it isn’t.
Owen Walker, one of the owners of El Rey Mezcal Bar, a tiny restaurant with a large patio in Kensington Market, fares a little better. He was told his annual hike would amount to about $8,000 — nearly sixfold, from less than $1,800 now to about $10,000.
His patio is key to the success of the 36-seat restaurant.
“It’s not just the fact that it doubles capacity, it’s also that Kensington Market is decidedly more active in the summertime,” Walker says. “And part of that activity and the identity in the neighbourhood is walking around and finding yourself on a patio.”
Walker has no choice but to pay whatever rate hike is finally settled upon — Mayor John Tory has already requested revisions, saying he doesn’t want to be known for having declared a war on fun — since the patio is essential for staying in business.
Whatever new proposal is passed, it should be drafted with the understanding that patios are essential to the fabric of our city, for several reasons.
First, patios make the streets safer. We know this on an instinctual level — especially women — since, to state the completely obvious, most of us would rather walk in busy neighbourhoods than on abandoned streets. This principle is a central component of progressive urban planning, based on the observations of people such as Jane Jacobs, who want to keep as many “eyes on the street” as possible.
Patios are, by far, the most efficient way to do that. Torontonians eagerly flock to them — in a sense, volunteering and paying for the privilege of doing their civic neighbourhood watch duties. Weekly magazines devote entire issues to patio season — a more hotly anticipated event than New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day and maybe even St. Paddy’s.
In Toronto, patio season is sacred.
Secondly, when people hang out on patios, they often strike up casual conversations with people they would never have met through work or school.
Sociologists, notably Ray Oldenburg, call the role these spaces play in cities “the third place,” meaning, simply, a place that isn’t work and isn’t home. The third place is essential to building community and reducing polarization because, for many, it’s the most likely place for people to meet others from the community who aren’t from the exact same socio-economic background.
Some public spaces do this better than others. Over the years, it’s been discovered that certain bars, cafes and restaurants (usually local, independent establishments) foster more interaction between strangers than others. On the other end of the spectrum are the places that Oldenburg calls “BYOFs” (Bring Your Own Friends), which are usually chain bars and restaurants, often located in designated entertainment districts, as opposed to scattered throughout residential neighbourhoods.
When it comes to an $8,000 to $10,000 tax hike, chains aren’t going to be happy, either. But they’ll have a much better chance of weathering it, since volume sales give big operators better profit margins, thanks to the greater leverage they have with suppliers.
Finally, even if every restaurant survives this tax hike, it will mean higher prices, which will translate into less diversity on patios. This defeats the purpose of this “third place,” since it’s supposed to bring people from all walks of life together, not just folks who can spring for a $7 cappuccino.
The alternative — people staying home and only ever socializing with people they already know — is isolating and alienating, two factors that have been shown to make people less tolerant to ethnic, cultural and religious differences, more prone to fear and more willing to adopt or accept extremist political views.
Toronto can’t afford to go down that path right now. We’re at a crossroads where it’s important to hold on to the fabric that brings people closer together, not breed intolerance and difference.
The fight to save patios may appear frivolous, but it’s not about a war on fun. It’s about keeping our streets safe, our communities tight and reaffirming our commitment to values, such as diversity and equality. Which is what Toronto’s all about.
“It feels like our culture is being assaulted. Like we’re being punished and that’s really disheartening,” says Walker. “And it just begs the question of how council wants this city to progress.”
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