Will Pasadenans Return to Dining Out and Retail Shopping Anytime Soon?

Ask Pasadena residents if they’re ready to dine in restaurants, shop in their favorite stores, and even send their kids back to school, and you get a wide range of answers. Some are adamantly in favor of dining out, and for others, it’s just a “possible maybe.”

Others are waiting to see how deep the waters of possible contamination are, and they are more than willing to allow others to lead the way. 

Day camps have been given the go-ahead to reopen and a handful of local restaurants have begun to offer in-person dining, including Gale’s and Urban Plates. Pasadena Now asked a random group of community leaders for their thoughts on the subject recently, and received answers as diverse as the city is.

You can count Erica Foy of the Madison Heights Neighborhood Association, as one of the adamant ones in favor of going back to early March. 

“I’m not fearful at all,” she told Pasadena Now recently. 

Foy continued, “It’s important to be very careful and to follow the rules that have been laid out. But as long as I’m wearing my mask when they ask me to, and washing my hands and keeping my distance, I have no problem going to restaurants. I just don’t.”

Foy also tends to look at the situation from a pure numbers standpoint, explaining that many of the local coronavirus cases are emanating from nursing homes. 

“This makes me realize that the percentage of catching it is very low.”

Citing more numbers, Foy says, “If you look at the percentages, we have (approximately) 140,000 population (in Pasadena), and we have 500 cases that we know for sure are from nursing homes. And then we have another 211 cases that are ‘questionable from nursing homes.’ And then we have nursing homes that don’t have to report their numbers unless it’s over 11. So if they have 10 cases,”

So, surmises Foy,  “There’s a chance that 80% of our numbers are coming from nursing homes. And if we have 140,000 people, that’s .2%. So for me looking at the data, it makes me less fearful. So that’s where I’m at.”

MHNA Association board member  Ryan Panzarello  shares Foy’s enthusiasm for reopening retail and restaurants.

“It is time to reopen all businesses within the City of Pasadena,” he said in an email response to Pasadena Now. 

Panzarello continued, “As we enter our 13th week of shutdown, it is imperative to bring the City back to life. This means office buildings, bars and restaurants and yes, playgrounds. It seems that most people have received the message of washing their hands, not touching their faces and keeping their social distance measures in place. But the local economy must come back now. I should add, with common sense Covid-19 guidelines in place for now.” 

Jonathan Edewards of the Downtown Pasadena Neighborhood Association is comfortable with dining indoors these days, and sees the return of restaurants and retail as an opportunity for Downtown Pasadena to implement some long-desired changes. Or not.

“I’m definitely comfortable going to a restaurant, and with outdoor dining,” said Edewards. “Now I’m hopeful that we can get some of these parklets going in downtown Pasadena.

As Edewards explained,  creating small parklets and outdoor dining out onto local streets, “makes even more sense” now. 

He is quick to note, however,  that he doesn’t personally support the complete closure of any streets.

“I don’t think that’s that’s necessary, or that it even would be all that great,” he said. 

According to Edewards, outdoor dining advocates may overestimate the actual number of restaurants in Old Pasadena, for example.

“The number of restaurants on Colorado Boulevard is not as high as you think it is,” said Edewards.  That might affect the number of restaurants that would actually fill the street.

“There are a lot more restaurants off of Colorado Boulevard,” he said. “And I’m thinking that if you had to program the entire street, you (would have to) fill it with tables and umbrellas and knickknacks and whatnot to make it feel comfy and cozy, or a place you’d want to hang out in. It’s a lot of area to fill.”

Naturally, at least one community leader is treading cautiously when it comes to the reopening of schools.

John Latta, current president of MHNA also said in an email response, “I would rather see what happens in other locations first.  Again, a measured opening maybe with staggered attendance might work. Testing should be part of the analysis.”

For her part, Colleen Carey of the Pasadena Rotary Club, feels strongly that Pasadena consumers will readily return to their favorite retail.

“It’s my strong assumption that they will start shopping,” she said. “They’re used to shopping in retail. People have been shopping in grocery stores, Target Walmart, and Costco for the entire pandemic period. So I think with the same precautions they’re taking in grocery stores, they will return to retail wearing masks. Some people wear gloves”

But Carey does not see retail shopping as “problematic” as restaurants. 

As she explained, “If you’re required to wear a mask as a customer in a restaurant, how do you do that? Everyone I’ve talked to has said, ‘Wait a minute, I’m either going to be eating or drinking while I’m in there. So don’t expect me to put that mask on and keep it on for any period of time.”

Meanwhile, Dan Beal of the West Pasadena Residents Association is a lot more circumspect, saying he would enter the retail  fray cautiously.

“I would do so cautiously,” he said. “I think it’s important that we support local retailers especially, but everyone who suffers from the shutdown, as well. 

But Beal would be especially conscious of whether stores or restaurants are observing the proper protocol to protect customers and staff. 

“And that will be a really important thing,” Beal said, adding that he is “personally in that age category that needs to pay a little more attention to that, to the risks involved.”

For Beal, “ it’s too early for a full fledged free for all. But he noted that “taking appropriate steps and going back cautiously and thoughtfully, I think it’s time we started to really start exploring that.”

But Beal again stressed that he is “concerned about anything that increases the number of cases. We’ll leave it at that.”