Los Angeles, CA

Primary Objective

As communities reopened after COVID quarantine measures, health departments and restaurants across the country needed to negotiate new procedures, protections and processes.

Challenge

Restaurants operate on slim margins, and if they’re held to 60% of their dining capacity (as LA County’s 2020 guidance required) it would have been challenging for many of them to stay in business. As COVID quarantine measures were slowly being rolled back, it was essential that businesses could operate outside, where many people felt more comfortable eating.

The City of Los Angeles needed to pivot to allow new options for restaurants to use sidewalks, parking spaces, private parking lots, and streets for expanded outdoor dining – including alcohol service.

When COVID-19 forced thousands of businesses to close their doors, we saw a need to meet this moment in a rapid-fire way. ClearForms allowed us to stand up a new permit within a matter of days— not months.

Colin Sweeney,
Director of Public Information Department of Transportation for Los Angeles, CA

Solution

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Mayor’s Office turned to ClearGov’s ClearForms product to automatically issue hundreds of LA Alfresco permits in the first two days that the application was available online.

Like all ClearForms workflows, these outdoor dining permits were set up and launched by non-technical government staff. Online applications, online reviews, and customized, downloadable printable licenses are all standard features of ClearForms. Working from home, staff were able to review, approve, communicate with applicants, respond to questions and request clarifications – all within ClearForms.

Check out all of Los Angeles’ workflows on ClearForms here.