if some jerk comes out of the Roma and tells you to move, don’t.

call his bluff. tell him to call the cops. he won’t.

or just threaten to sue his ass.

file a DPH complaint about unsanitary conditions inside later. they’re confidential.

make him regret being a jerk.

Now, if no one wanted to build them, we could talk about whether we want to use public money, but as it is…

My understanding now is that a management-type kicked out the aggrieved party here.

I don’t know how illegal it is for a restaurant operator to discourage freeloaders, I’m not up to speed on that.

I don’t know why this post is being viewed as some grand attack on parklets. If I were a parklet booster, I’d call up that faked-named person at Caffe Roma myself and say, yo, what’s the deal, dawg. I’m not so I won’t.

If every parklet “owner” / custodian acted like Caffe Roma, then I think we shouldn’t have parklets or we should finance them with tax money instead of fee money….

These, like the benches attached to the parklet itself, are fully public, and it’s illegal for cafe owners or employees to try to force people out under any circumstances.

The point of the parklet program is to take a few small bits of public street space that had been just for cars and let non-drivers use them–not to allow cafes to annex (or purchase) parts of the public realm. When parklets work right, I think they’re a great thing for everyone involved.

I’m not naive, and have lived in the same apartment in North Beach for almost 10 years now, with many mochas happily purchased from Caffe Roma. I was not only disrespected (perhaps I was confused for a tourist from Fisherman’s Wharf?), but I was blatantly lied to and forced to leave even after inquiring about the public nature of the space.

The bottom line is that the PUBLIC should be able to enjoy a part, if not ALL of the public space they enabled (regardless of any permit fees paid by a private establishment), without somebody erroneously telling them otherwise. I’m glad to hear that others haven’t had a similar experience to date at this parklet, and hope it was simply a misunderstanding from an overeager old-timer who was behind on his current events.

If parklets are so great, why aren’t they paid for out of the general fund? Restaurant owners act this way because of all the fees that they pay.

SanFrustrated already knows that he can contact Caffe Roma, but he did things in a different, and I’d say, more effective way. I’m up to speed on this issue now, as are thousands of others…

Interesting as I haven’t had trouble at either location, Greco or Roma, and I’ve enjoyed both parklets. It is a shame if this is indeed true. Parklets are public space and need to be treated as such. And these “workers” aren’t doing themselves any favors as there are many in this neighborhood who would love to see the parklets ripped out. Full disclosure, I believe they provide a much greater good than the parking spaces they replaced.

San Frustrated needs to contact David Chiu, the parks dept, and the owner of Cafe Roma.

That is what people do in PARKS. That’s what parks are for.

“But then again, if hobos start taking over the parklets with their shopping carts I will FREAK OUT.”

You need to join a private club with their own private grounds, and you may need to live in that club too because the “public” is all kinds of people.

I think parklets are on a first-com first-served stay-as-long-as-you’d-like kind of deal.

The primary issue is restaurant owners thinking that they own these spaces because they paid some fees and jumped through a few bureaucratic hoops…

The case at issue was the placement of chairs or whathaveyou blocking the benches.