news-record.com

GREENSBORO - After years of trumpeting the importance of an active, vibrant downtown, city leaders may be feeling some of the first growing pains associated with that vision.

The City Council is considering revisions to the downtown sidewalk cafe ordinance after a business owner complained of being the target of unfair police enforcement of that ordinance.

A week ago, police arrested Winifred Lee Meekins, general manager of Much Martini Bar, Carmine's Restaurant and Heaven Nightclub, three businesses at 113 S. Elm St., on a charge of obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic.

Police said the restaurant had tables set up on the sidewalk later than the ordinance allows, 10 p.m. most nights and midnight on weekends.

The arrest follows weeks of warnings and citations issued to the owner and manager of the restaurant, trying to get the business to comply with the ordinance, police said.

But an attorney for Rocco Scarfone, the restaurant owner, said his client is being blamed for problems caused by downtown growth.

"I don't know why that business and no other business has been ticketed," said Derek Allen, Scarfone's attorney. "For years and years, this ordinance has been on the books. There have been lots of violations of the letter of the law, and they weren't ticketed."

In June, Allen asked the city to remove time stipulations from the ordinance.

The law now allows businesses with sidewalk cafe permits to operate on the sidewalk only when the business is open and only from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to midnight on weekends and holidays.

"We have a good problem, that is, people hanging around downtown," Allen said. "It's silly the way it's written right now. It's at odds with the city's stated goal of making downtown into an active, hip setting."

But others say such changes go too far.

Crowding is a safety issue, and it negatively affects the quality of life of people who live downtown, said Ed Wolverton, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc.

If every permit holder kept patio seating open as long as the proposed revision would allow, Wolverton fears downtown residents might be adversely affected.

"It's more than just one club," Wolverton said. "There are 13 businesses downtown that have the same permit. They could choose to start staying open to 3 o'clock in the morning."

At Monday's City Council meeting, Councilman Mike Barber asked for a moratorium on enforcement of the sidewalk cafe ordinance until the council could decide on revisions to the ordinance.

The motion failed, but council members will discuss changing the ordinance at their Aug. 19 meeting. "I just don't want us discriminating against one cafe downtown," Councilwoman Trudy Wade said.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com