Residents of the Carroll County town of Westminster might want to pay attention to the current battle over the widening of sidewalks in the state capital. In Annapolis, where streets are crowded with people, restaurant owners have to contend with a glut of customers. They have mobilized behind a controversial proposal to encourage sidewalk cafes as part of the $5 million reconstruction of Main Street and its sidewalks.
Not all that many years ago, Main Street in Annapolis wasn't much different from Main Street in Westminster. Malls, strip centers and stores outside the city had siphoned off a lot of retailing activity downtown. The shops that remained in the center of town did little business. The area had a rundown feel.
Taking advantage of the low rents, adventurous entrepreneurs opened restaurants and bars in a number of the vacant storefronts. They attracted customers. Soon, small retailers opened stores to sell trinkets, clothes and other items to the people, sated with food and drink, who strolled into shops before heading home. Within a few years, the streets were crowded with visitors.
While Annapolis city officials are looking at widening Main Street sidewalks to accommodate the throngs that pack their sidewalks during the summer and on weekends all year long, Westminster officials might also consider encouraging sidewalk cafes as a means of attracting people to the town's ailing retail district.
Planners have pointed out that the prospect of people eating, drinking, talking or reading at sidewalk tables has a humanizing effect on a town. People sitting at tables feel safe enough to relax, acknowledge each other and exchange a few words. In cities like Paris, Rome, Venice, Barcelona and Buenos Aires, sipping coffee and reading a newspaper at a sidewalk table is a daily ritual.
To be sure, not everyone in Annapolis is enthusiastic about sidewalk cafes. Some residents fear that widening the sidewalks will destroy the city's historic character and that noise from people congregating at night will further serve to disrupt nearby neighborhoods.
Considering that Westminster's rebuilt Main Street is physically as attractive as Annapolis', town officials should encourage sidewalk cafes. Having people eating, drinking and generating noise has to be better than the silence that currently pervades sidewalks in Westminster and many other Maryland towns.