I don't know how this can be laid at the feet of progressives. It's mainly NIMBYs who oppose outdoor dining. Here in Portland, progressivism and anti-car, pro-biking/walking dogma has been hitched to the expansion if outdoor dining that in some cases shuts down whole streets, as another way of intentionally making it hard on us evil people who insist on owning cars. As a neighbor of one of the proposed streets to be shut down, who already deals with a lack of parking and a lot of drunk kids staggering around at 2am on Saturdays, I opposed the total street shutdown because while I'd love to live in Paris, I don't particularly want to live in Amsterdam. But the "parklets" in Portland have taken their place beside the many (wonderful) food cart pods, and definitely seem here to stay. Which is great. It absolutely saved a lot of struggling restaurants during the pandemic, and it adds another layer of life to the streets.
