Tavern in the Square, the new restaurant that opened on the site of the old Salem News, wants to have outdoor dining at the corner of New Derby & Washington St. near the bus stop.
This draws our interest at the Commission on Disabilities, since we are concerned about sidewalk access and what we call “path of travel”.
We’ll notice this come October.
I have no position on whether Tavern in the Square should be permitted outside seating, but I’ve been concerned about other outside seating. Most notably, Rockafellas takes up a good chunk of Washington St., and I have had trouble getting by there in crowds.
Another serious bottleneck in the past has been Cilantro, which at one time had a seating area on Liberty St. (the “Haunted Alley”) which was virtually impassable anytime in October. (The seating is no longer there.)
The Front Street Coffeehouse has a small seating area; unfortunately, Front St. has a small sidewalk.
Tavern in the Square was already mentioned at one of our meetings. Jack Harris heard from one person who claimed their entrance was poorly lit and marked for the visually impaired. I’ll probably have lunch there sometime to see, or not see, for myself.
No doubt we’ll be bringing this up at the next meeting.
