Want to eat in the street? Or get free money to help downtown Modesto? Here’s how
Free money and parking-free patios have come to downtown Modesto.
The Downtown Modesto Partnership, a nonprofit that bolsters businesses in the city center, is behind two new projects aimed at helping restaurants, particularly, make it through the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and associated shutdowns.
One is a just-launched app that allows buyers to essentially double their money for purchases made downtown. Funded through donations, the RAD Card lets you buy up to $100 in a universal gift card to be used at participating downtown businesses and then matches that amount — so instantly $20 becomes $40, $40 becomes $80 and so on.
The other is permanent (or, at least permanent through the pandemic) parklets built into city street parking which allow restaurants to expand their outdoor dining capacity while inside service remains shutdown to slow the spread of COVID-19.
DoMo Partnership President and CEO Josh Bridegroom said both programs were created to help small businesses downtown, which are struggling to survive as the coronavirus crisis continues and the county infection rate keeps it on the state’s watchlist.
The RAD Card (which stands for Relief Across DoMo), came from seeing other cities launch gift card fundraisers and the like. But instead of the app working as a gift card only at a specific business, Bridegroom said he wanted it to work for several businesses. So far close to 20, mostly restaurants, are part of the program.
New app doubles downtown Modesto purchases
The app is free to download, then the buyer fills it with their own funds up to $100. The card then doubles whatever money was put on it, and can be used to pay for orders at downtown establishments using its built-in QR code.
It launched last weekend, and Bridegroom said it already generated $34,000 in sales (that’s $17,000 from customers and the matching amount from donations). DoMo Partnership has raised $150,000 in matching funds so far thanks to donations from David and Jeanne Olson, Porges Family Foundation, Valley First Credit Union and the Stanislaus Community Foundation.
Bridegroom said the program is still accepting matching fund donations and still adding downtown businesses to its vendor list. I downloaded the app over the weekend. It was quick and easy to sign up and now I look forward to using it at my favorite downtown places soon. Also, because it’s all online-based and needs only a code to scan, it provides touchless transactions for your curbside takeout or outside dining needs which is always appreciated in our coronavirus times.
Speaking of outside dining, parklets have started popping up in street parking spaces as part of a push to help restaurants find more space to seat people outside. The concept of the parklet isn’t new, not even to Modesto where temporary ones have gone up already downtown in the past couple years.
But these new, more permanent structures are now being built and then ultimately will be approved under the city’s Open Air Initiative, which was finally released in late July and provides guidance to allow restaurants to create more patio space on city sidewalks, parking space and other areas while still complying with ADA and ABC rules. Essentially each parklet creates a buffered extension to the sidewalk by using on-street parking spaces and leveling them off to allow for full accessibility.
Modesto poised to approve parklet patios for restaurants
The city’s Community & Economic Development department will have ultimate approval over the parklets (though exactly how or what the process will be isn’t clear yet). So for now the existing ones have been granted temporary approval through the police department’s temporary special events permits.
The first was constructed and funded with the help of DoMo Partnership and volunteers from Shelter Cove Church in front of Commonwealth on 11th Street. It started operating last weekend, and adds about 15 seats to the restaurant’s outdoor options.
Now other restaurants are following suit. Bridegroom’s group is providing interested restaurants with the design plans, which were created pro bono by downtown Modesto’s Red Inc Architects. The plans can be tweaked depending on location and conditions.
Food Fix Butcher & Baker owner Hank Olson is building his own parklet, off those designs. His 11th Street establishment is sandwiched between two other restaurants and can’t otherwise expand its patio. So he is taking up the approximately two parking stalls that front his business to build his own parklet. It will add some 350 square feet of seating, he said, and add seating for up to 40.
When the county had to close down inside dining again at the start of July, Olson lost his 160-seat indoor capacity. He has seating for 15 on his pre-existing patio, but said adding the parklet should help them make up some ground. Last weekend, he said he had to turn away about 50 people looking for outdoor seating because of his limited patio space. He estimates that was around $2,000 in sales.
He said as the pandemic continues, people have started ordering less takeout. That drop coupled with limited seating has made it difficult to make ends meet. Instead of waiting for DoMo Partnership to help find a funding source for his project, Olson has invested about $3,000 and is building it himself. He hopes to have it ready to go by this weekend.
“Last Friday was kind of the turning point for me,” he said. “We had a lot of people downtown and wanting to eat here but we had a waiting list and people were turned away. So I was like I’m doing it. I’m just trying to save my restaurant and feed enough people to keep the doors open.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
