Outdoor dining in San Francisco?

Once again the issue of sidewalk tables for San Francisco restaurants has been raised by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. For years Herb Caen pontificated on the subject bemoaning the fact that San Francisco, as the Paris of the West, did not have outdoor cafes and restaurants as they do in Paris. He, the world traveler that he was, should have known better. This city has a totally different climate to begin with and I for one, don't want to sit outside, freeze my buns off, have my food get cold, and have a smelly vagrant panhandle me or some crazy screaming at me while I am trying to eat. There is also the problem of the gale force winds which would blow the menu and some food items from here to kingdom come. Then there is the larger problem of noise and dirt. Paris is a clean city and much quieter. In fact, the last time I was there I had occasion to sit at a table on the narrow end of a triangular shaped lot where passing city buses came within six feet of me. The buses there are quiet and the drivers do not act like they are at a race track so the situation was not marred by the traffic at this busy intersection. This is not possible in San Francisco where I would end up with Muni in my gazpacho. We also have a problem with far too many pigeons plus we have the problem of sea gulls. Then there is the fact that many of the so-called outdoor restaurants in Paris aren't really outdoors anyway. They just feature glass enlosed sections which protrude out from the main building so that one gets the feeling of being on the sidewalk. In some cases you might be at sidewalk level but are still separated from pedestrian traffic by this glass overhead and wall. Also, sidewalk dining there is more apt to be present at a corner bistro than at a full service restaurant. The other issue which many people overlook is that the sidwalks in Paris which feature these arrangements are, on average, much wider than Ssn Francisco sidewalks. The only sidewalks in this city that come close to duplicating Paris in width are on Market Street between the Ferry Building and Van Ness which are possibly the worst places in the world for outdoor dining.

If the city wants to relax some of its regulations in this regards, lots of luck, but you won't find me trying to get a seat at an outdoor table. Even the incredibly crowded Champ Elysees in Paris is far more conducive to outdoor dining than most streets in San Francisco.