Palm Desert may close a portion of El Paseo to expand outdoor dining

The city of Palm Desert is looking at closing a portion of El Paseo to traffic to expand outdoor dining.

It's all part of the city's plan to help small business owners and employees.

"We took about $2 million out of our economic reserve fund and gave forgiveable loans to our businesses and we put $1 million into a hospitality program where if you stay for two nights, you get the third night free. So we want visitors to stay and stay longer and shop on El Paseo and eat all over our wonderful desert from north to south and support businesses and donate money to our food banks," Palm Desert Mayor Gina Nestande told News Channel 3's Peter Daut.

Nestande joined Peter Daut during the 6:30 p.m. newscast on CBS Local 2 and Fox 11 to discuss this plan.

"We already have been talking with our restaurant owners and most all of them that have the ability to have an outdoor patio right now have shade, they are doing the outdoor dining. We streamlined that process. But many of our restaurant owners are not equipped with the summer heat to start outdoor dining, but we are there for them when they're ready to start when the weather starts cooling off," Nestande said. "Also we've been talking with staff about perhaps closing down part of the street along El Paseo and have outdoor dining on the street of El Paseo. So we'll be discussing that at our next city council meeting."

Palm Springs and La Quinta have already passed plans to help restaurants by expanding outdoor dining areas.

Palm Springs took it a step further by shutting down a two-mile stretch of Palm Canyon in downtown. The shutdown is set to start on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Palm Desert City Council still needs to discuss the plan to shut down El Paseo, but Nestande tells News Channel 3 that restaurant owners are ready to expand as soon as they are able to.

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing coverage on this plan.