But then how will private cars turn the roads designed for horses, bikes, and trucks into private car storage that we don't need?

No mention of how restaurants taking up sidewalk space will affect mobility for folks who need to use the sidewalk for transportation.

This a bad idea. Sidewalk space is already so limited why make it worse? Moving more disease risk out into the public space is a stupid idea. If people want to risk going into restaurants that is their choice but don’t force people just walking by on the sidewalk to take that risk too.

@3:

You DO realize that folks sitting IN a restaurant were in fact just out on that sidewalk a few minutes BEFORE they walked in, yes?

Could also do this with other kinds of smaller scale retail, as long as the weather cooperates.

@7, please ignore @2 and @3, as their comments are just meant to signal that they are oh-so-progressive and you are not in their eyes.

This cannot and will not happen! The reason every outside table & seat in Seattle has to be surrounded by a fence is that we used to have the nation's worst drinking problem by young people. Before the fences were built, I personally witnessed a drunken 2-year-old grab a pint of beer from a table and chug it two handed. Take it from me, there's nothing scarier than a Rowdy Drunken Toddler™!

1- fuck off with that tired nonsense.

Make it happen. It's hard to beat a crisp fall day sitting outside at le Pichet.

@13- @1 already has.