Los Angeles, California
The City of Angels Rapidly Launches Hundreds of Outdoor Dining Permits in Days

Los Angeles

Location

California

Population

3.879 million (2024)

ClearGov solution

ClearForms

Primary Objective

Enable Safe, Flexible Outdoor Dining as Cities Reopened

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

Challenge

Urgent Need for Outdoor Dining Permits During COVID Reopening

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.

Solution

Rapid Deployment of LA Alfresco Permits Using ClearForms

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.