Expanded patio programs reveal disparity in Denver restaurants

“It just wasn’t feasible for me to apply.”

By Steve Staeger, 9News

DENVER — When the COVID-19 pandemic raged, many restaurants expanded patios outside to try to keep their businesses afloat as restrictions closed dining rooms.

But data from the city of Denver shows many restaurant owners in underserved communities didn’t have the same opportunity to expand as their counterparts.

Of the 542 businesses that applied to the Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure for permits to expand their patios onto sidewalks or streets, 83 were in areas that the city considers “high equity priority,” about 34%, according to data provided by DOTI.

“When the city releases information, Cherry Creek gets it first, downtown, RiNo and they have the capacity to just jump and have people apply for the grants and they have the capacity to help people build these,” said Cindy Ambs, a community liaison for the Denver Streets Partnership.

Ambs has been working with businesses in Southwest Denver, trying to improve the corridors along South Federal Boulevard and Morrison Road.

“I’ve realized that [the South Federal corridor], this immigrant Chinese-owned, Asian-owned corridor is always the last to get these guidelines,” she said.

The Denver Department of Excise and Licenses said it did everything it could to get the word out to all communities immediately.  They held several town halls about the expanded patio program, inviting stakeholders from community organizations representing all of the city’s underserved communities, spokesman Eric Escudero said. He also said, unlike other cities in Colorado that only allowed patio expansions in certain areas of cities, the city decided to allow all restaurants to apply.

“All of our initial and ongoing outreach and support has been targeted to reach all Denver neighborhoods, especially lower income neighborhoods disproportionally negatively impacted economically by the pandemic,” Ashley Kilroy, the director of Excise and Licensing said in a statement to 9News. “Our initial online digital town halls explaining the program were open to the public and available to all and not just members of restaurant associations.”