Portland street closures, parklets for outdoor business could become permanent

Streets and parking spaces that have been closed off to cars to allow for more outdoor dining and retail space in Portland during the pandemic could become permanent features of the city. The city manager’s office is proposing to keep Dana and Wharf streets, and one block of Milk Street permanently closed to traffic, as they are now. It also recommends permanent expansion of the city’s parklet program, which allows restaurants and other businesses to create outdoor spaces in on-street parking spots and other public spaces. Portland approved a pilot program for parklets in 2019 that capped the number at five spaces citywide, but the limit was temporarily loosened for the…