Surprise! Red Tier Now Begins Sunday; Downtown Disney Restaurants???

[TP2000]

Patently false:

In our January survey, Governor Newsom’s approval rating among California likely voters is at 52%, compared to 49% in January 2020 and 43% in January 2019. His approval rating over time hovers around 50%—it surpassed 60% twice after COVID-19 struck.​

​

It takes a majority vote to remove the governor. Right now, 43% disapprove of Gavin Newsom. For perspective, seven in ten likely voters disapproved of Gray Davis (72% February 2003; 75% June 2003; 72% July 2003; 72% August 2003; 71% September 2003) before 55% voted to remove him in October 2003.​

​

What Approval Ratings Say about Recalling Governor Newsom - Public Policy Institute of California

Governor Newsom could potentially face a recall election this year. But PPIC’s new statewide survey suggests that California voters currently are unlikely to remove him from office.

www.ppic.org

Please do not post misinformation.

​

The poll that made the big media splash this past week was from UC Berkeley, that famous bastion of right-wing thinking. Go Bears!

The Berkeley poll had been used in 2020 to also show reasonably strong support for Newsom in the first half of the pandemic, but that has changed noticeably in the last four months.

The Berkeley poll's latest findings on Governor Newsom's approval/disapproval ratings;

Late January 2021
Approve of Newsom's Job Performance = 46%
Disapprove of Newsom's Job Performance = 48%

September 2020
Approve of Newsom's Job Performance = 64%
Disapprove of Newsom's Job Performance = 36%

And it was the strongest feelings that shifted against Newsom in that poll:

Late January 2021
Approve Strongly of Newsom's Job Performance = 14%
Disapprove Strongly of Newsom's Job Performance = 31%

September 2020
Approve Strongly of Newsom's Job Performance = 25%
Disapprove Strongly of Newsom's Job Performance = 23%

His handling of the Covid Pandemic was the most noticeable drop among California's major issues for voters:

Late January 2021
Newsom's Handling of Covid Pandemic = 43% Poor/Very Poor

September 2020
Newsom's Handling of Covid Pandemic = 28% Poor/Very Poor

The poll may be found here, and quite tellingly the poll report is titled by UC Berkeley: "Voters Now Much More Critical of Governor Newsom's Performance"

Release #2021-01: Voters now much more critical of Governor Newsom’s performance

Author(s): DiCamillo, Mark

escholarship.org

Newsom approval plummeting with a third of voters support recall amid COVID-19 criticism, poll finds

Over a third of the state’s registered voters said they would vote to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom if the recall was on the ballot; 45% said they would not, a new poll finds.

www.latimes.com

Newsom's approval ratings fall in California as recall threat intensifies

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's approval rating has taken a hit during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a pair of new surveys, which could be a "warning" to the governor just as the recall effort against him is heating up.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Little Green Men]

I would love to eat some duck outside.

I did that in 2017 at the Carthay. Good times.

 

[mickEblu]

The side courtyard to Carthay, now set up for Outdoor Dining with heat lamps.

That's not the most attractive area, is it? It looks kind of like what it is; a queue space for a kiddy theater show with some basic landscaping and a poorly designed mish-mash of temporary signs and poles and general patio crap strewn about.

Not very gracious or elegant looking, so it's probably for the best that they are only offering a cheaper and stripped down Carthay menu.

I don't know, gang, for this price point I think I'd rather go dine at Pacific City or somewhere along the coast with a purposeful patio setup and a much better view.

Restaurants with actual outdoor patios pre Covid are gold right now! I try to seek those out. Do you think COVID will change the way restaurants are designed/ developed in the future? Especially here in So Cal where we have pretty good weather all year.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Restaurants with actual outdoor patios pre Covid are gold right now! I try to seek those out. Do you think COVID will change the way restaurants are designed/ developed in the future? Especially here in So Cal where we have pretty good weather all year.

Not just restaurants but really our whole way of building should change. We just build sealed up boxes everywhere. We don’t build for the location. Buildings with more natural ventilation are good not just for the pandemic moment but also the environment as they can be designed to use less energy. More space for outdoor seating improves streetscapes and other outdoor spaces making them more pedestrian friendly.

 

[TP2000]

Restaurants with actual outdoor patios pre Covid are gold right now! I try to seek those out. Do you think COVID will change the way restaurants are designed/ developed in the future? Especially here in So Cal where we have pretty good weather all year.

I think for SoCal, most restaurants pre-Covid had already maximized their outdoor seating areas. In the Covid era, the strip malls and shopping districts of OC seem to have just hijacked adjacent parking spaces or street lanes to expand their seating.

In the downtown area of the city of Orange this past summer they just blocked off entire streets for outdoor dining patios to try and keep the restaurants and small businesses alive there. Except for a Starbucks and a Blaze Pizza, all of those business were small mom n' pop places that are barely surviving, although several have closed permanently even with the city blocking off the entire street for outdoor dining. They just couldn't make it with limited outdoor dining only; they needed their dining rooms for the business to pencil out.

It makes sense for SoCal, and perhaps a few other pockets of the country. But in much of the rest of the country the "Outdoor Dining Season" is only two or three months out of the year. It's either too icy and snowy, cold and wet, or it's too blazingly hot and/or humid to rely on a majority of your dine-in business being seated outdoors.

Would I want to dine outdoors in Dallas in summer? Heck no. You'd be eaten alive by bugs the size of baking potatoes, if you could even stand to make it through the salad course without fainting.

But in coastal SoCal, from about Yorba Linda west? Sure, it makes a lot of sense.

 

[mickEblu]

I think for SoCal, most restaurants pre-Covid had already maximized their outdoor seating areas. In the Covid era, the strip malls and shopping districts of OC seem to have just hijacked adjacent parking spaces or street lanes to expand their seating.

In the downtown area of the city of Orange this past summer they just blocked off entire streets for outdoor dining patios to try and keep the restaurants and small businesses alive there. Except for a Starbucks and a Blaze Pizza, all of those business were small mom n' pop places that are barely surviving, although several have closed permanently even with the city blocking off the entire street for outdoor dining.

It makes sense for SoCal, and perhaps a few other pockets of the country. But in much of the rest of the country the "Outdoor Dining Season" is only two or three months out of the year. It's either too icy and snowy, cold and wet, or it's too blazingly hot and/or humid to rely on a majority of your dine-in business being seated outdoors.

Would I want to dine outdoors in Dallas in summer? Heck no. You'd be eaten alive by bugs the size of baking potatoes, if you could even stand to make it through the salad course without fainting.

But in coastal SoCal, from about Yorba Linda west? Sure, it makes a lot of sense.

Yeah I’d like to see a lot more restaurants with nice patios being built. It just makes a lot of sense to do that out here. I guess things were already tending in that direction. When was the last time they built an indoor mall in California? But restaurants, I think there is some room for growth.

 

[TP2000]

I will say, when I was up in Oregon for the holidays, the surviving downtown Portland restaurants (that was once a truly great Foodie town, but it's all been destroyed in the last 7 months by riots and protests) were trying to obey the ban on indoor dining by setting up outdoor tents in the streets. Except Portland in November is continuously drippy and drizzly and averages about 52 degrees; not conducive to dining Al Fresco.

So the tents the surviving hipster restaurants created were mostly fully sealed in complexes, with electric lighting, and gas heaters and sealed vinyl windows and temporary doorways built. You were literally eating in an enclosed plastic bubble sitting in the middle of the street, and yet it was still damp and cold and mildly uncomfortable.

So what the heck is the difference between this and an indoor dining room? The two restaurants we ate at as a family had tents like this, and they were stuffy and damp and seemed very poorly ventilated. But it satisfied the Science & Data the Portland bureaucrats came up with that prevented restaurants from seating people indoors. Bizarrely stupid, in my opinion!

 

[monykalyn]

So what the heck is the difference between this and an indoor dining room? The two restaurants we ate at as a family had tents like this, and they were stuffy and damp and seemed very poorly ventilated. But it satisfied the Science & Data the Portland bureaucrats came up with that prevented restaurants from seating people indoors. Bizarrely stupid, in my opinion!

Vs investing in a good high grade whole restaurant HEPA filter, improving ventilation etc-which HAS shown to reduce transmission. But hey-it isn't as visible as the "safety theater" of tents, temp checks and masks now is it?? "follow the science"-except when inconvenient or interpretation of the data doesn't fit the preconceived party line...

 

[unmitigated disaster]

I think for SoCal, most restaurants pre-Covid had already maximized their outdoor seating areas. In the Covid era, the strip malls and shopping districts of OC seem to have just hijacked adjacent parking spaces or street lanes to expand their seating.

In the downtown area of the city of Orange this past summer they just blocked off entire streets for outdoor dining patios to try and keep the restaurants and small businesses alive there. Except for a Starbucks and a Blaze Pizza, all of those business were small mom n' pop places that are barely surviving, although several have closed permanently even with the city blocking off the entire street for outdoor dining. They just couldn't make it with limited outdoor dining only; they needed their dining rooms for the business to pencil out.

It makes sense for SoCal, and perhaps a few other pockets of the country. But in much of the rest of the country the "Outdoor Dining Season" is only two or three months out of the year. It's either too icy and snowy, cold and wet, or it's too blazingly hot and/or humid to rely on a majority of your dine-in business being seated outdoors.

Would I want to dine outdoors in Dallas in summer? Heck no. You'd be eaten alive by bugs the size of baking potatoes, if you could even stand to make it through the salad course without fainting.

But in coastal SoCal, from about Yorba Linda west? Sure, it makes a lot of sense.

Exactly. I'm in Arizona. We had over 100 days of over 100 degrees days in 2020. Eating outside when its 113 is not fun. Yes, it's a dry heat (except during monsoon) but it's still miserably hot. No one eats outside during the day here during summer. Fall, parts of winter and the three days of spring, sure.

 

[cmwade77]

Once again the menu isn't even remotely the same as actual Carthay Circle. No fried biscuits, duck wings, burger, filet mignon, or pork chops. Just salmon and lamb. No idea why they can't use the real menu.

There are several issues that affect restaurant menus at this time, some of which are:

• Will the menu item work when dining outdoors or would it get too cold and not be good by the time someone is finished eating it?
• Does the prep work and/or cooking required prevent proper social distancing in the kitchen?
• Is there availability for all of the ingredients?
• Will all or most of the items sell fast enough to not spoil before being used?
• With limited capacity, can the restaurant turn over more tables and thus make more money by keeping the menu more limited?
• Likewise staffing may be limited and as such they may need to have items that take less time to prepare and cook.
• If something happens and the guest does want to take the food to go, will it hold up?

I am sure there are others, this is just what a manager of a restaurant I know as told me when I asked why restaurants are keeping limited menus right now.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Exactly. I'm in Arizona. We had over 100 days of over 100 degrees days in 2020. Eating outside when its 113 is not fun. Yes, it's a dry heat (except during monsoon) but it's still miserably hot. No one eats outside during the day here during summer. Fall, parts of winter and the three days of spring, sure.

Even in places with less temperate climates there is a lot that could be done with proper design. It is possible to create shaded and more passively cooled environments even in hot places. It may not be 70 degrees but easily tolerable.

 

[TheDisneyDaysOfOurLives]

I think for SoCal, most restaurants pre-Covid had already maximized their outdoor seating areas. In the Covid era, the strip malls and shopping districts of OC seem to have just hijacked adjacent parking spaces or street lanes to expand their seating.

In the downtown area of the city of Orange this past summer they just blocked off entire streets for outdoor dining patios to try and keep the restaurants and small businesses alive there. Except for a Starbucks and a Blaze Pizza, all of those business were small mom n' pop places that are barely surviving, although several have closed permanently even with the city blocking off the entire street for outdoor dining. They just couldn't make it with limited outdoor dining only; they needed their dining rooms for the business to pencil out.

It makes sense for SoCal, and perhaps a few other pockets of the country. But in much of the rest of the country the "Outdoor Dining Season" is only two or three months out of the year. It's either too icy and snowy, cold and wet, or it's too blazingly hot and/or humid to rely on a majority of your dine-in business being seated outdoors.

Would I want to dine outdoors in Dallas in summer? Heck no. You'd be eaten alive by bugs the size of baking potatoes, if you could even stand to make it through the salad course without fainting.

But in coastal SoCal, from about Yorba Linda west? Sure, it makes a lot of sense.

You're not wrong that it's not a great experience eating outdoors in Dallas during the summer (though I don't know if we really have bugs the size of baking potatoes here ). Over last summer, I did have a phenomenal meal at Universal Citywalk in Florida at the new steakhouse and we ate outside. It actually wasn't as bad of an experience. Not something I want to do everyday, but it's manageable. Hopefully this upcoming summer things start to return to normal.

 

[unmitigated disaster]

Even in places with less temperate climates there is a lot that could be done with proper design. It is possible to create shaded and more passively cooled environments even in hot places. It may not be 70 degrees but easily tolerable.

No one does it, though. They try - misters and shade - but they have yet to be successful.

 

[TP2000]

You're not wrong that it's not a great experience eating outdoors in Dallas during the summer (though I don't know if we really have bugs the size of baking potatoes here ).

Could we compromise and say bugs the size of turnips? When I lived in Texas, I was in a bedroom community of Houston. And the bugs there were terrifying for a West Coaster like me. I've only been to Dallas a few times, and I most remember Neiman-Marcus and their Zodiac Room restaurant there.

Tellingly, all of my fondest memories of Texas were indoors.

Over last summer, I did have a phenomenal meal at Universal Citywalk in Florida at the new steakhouse and we ate outside. It actually wasn't as bad of an experience. Not something I want to do everyday, but it's manageable. Hopefully this upcoming summer things start to return to normal.

It's not flattering, but Southern Californians are notorious wimps. Especially the natives who have never lived anywhere else. They only exist in a tiny wedge of temperature between 68 and 74 degrees, with low humidity throughout. Anything beyond that range and they declare it to be "TOO HOT!" with a woeful cry, or "Freezing!" with a whimpering whine.

It's annoying to almost everyone else in the other 49 states, but it's a dirty little secret that most Southern Californians are embarrassingly provincial.

 

[TP2000]

I am thankful we are not Florida.

Not to pick on you personally, but let's break down Florida Vs. California further, shall we?

And I say this as a Disneyland fan and SoCal resident who has spent the last 20+ years online being snarky and making fun of Florida, or more specifically the management of the Walt Disney World Resort, constantly. But when it comes to Covid in 2021, the results are quite surprising for those Californians who still sniff their noses at the Sunshine State.

As of February 7th, 2021...

Covid Vaccine Doses Given Per 100 Residents
Florida = 12.39 Doses Per 100 Floridians
California =11.77 Doses Per 100 Floridians

Percent of Population Given Covid Vaccine Shots
Florida = 9.3% Population Given 1 Shot, 3.1% Population Given 2 Shots
California = 9.2% Population Given 1 Shot, 2.0% Population Given 2 Shots

Percent of Covid Vaccines Distributed by Feds to State That's Been Used
Florida = 70.2% Of Doses Used
California = 66.8% Of Doses Used

When it comes to Covid and its vaccine in 2021, Florida is winning.

More Than 12.7 Billion Shots Given: Covid-19 Tracker

Bloomberg counted up the shots administered in 184 countries and 59 US states and territories

www.bloomberg.com

 

[SuddenStorm]

Could we compromise and say bugs the size of turnips? When I lived in Texas, I was in a bedroom community of Houston. And the bugs there were terrifying for a West Coaster like me. I've only been to Dallas a few times, and I most remember Neiman-Marcus and their Zodiac Room restaurant there.

Tellingly, all of my fondest memories of Texas were indoors.



It's not flattering, but Southern Californians are notorious wimps. Especially the natives who have never lived anywhere else. They only exist in a tiny wedge of temperature between 68 and 74 degrees, with low humidity throughout. Anything beyond that range and they declare it to be "TOO HOT!" with a woeful cry, or "Freezing!" with a whimpering whine.

It's annoying to almost everyone else in the other 49 states, but it's a dirty little secret that most Southern Californians are embarrassingly provincial.

As someone who grew up in LA County and moved to a state with actual winter out of high school, I was not ready for it to be a high of 30 outside.

 

[TheDisneyDaysOfOurLives]

Could we compromise and say bugs the size of turnips? When I lived in Texas, I was in a bedroom community of Houston. And the bugs there were terrifying for a West Coaster like me. I've only been to Dallas a few times, and I most remember Neiman-Marcus and their Zodiac Room restaurant there.

Tellingly, all of my fondest memories of Texas were indoors.



It's not flattering, but Southern Californians are notorious wimps. Especially the natives who have never lived anywhere else. They only exist in a tiny wedge of temperature between 68 and 74 degrees, with low humidity throughout. Anything beyond that range and they declare it to be "TOO HOT!" with a woeful cry, or "Freezing!" with a whimpering whine.

It's annoying to almost everyone else in the other 49 states, but it's a dirty little secret that most Southern Californians are embarrassingly provincial.

See, now in Houston, the bugs ARE the size of potatos!

And there's nothing wrong with wanting the temperature to be 68-74 degrees with low humidity. When those days happen in Dallas (like 20 altogether), it's perfect. So I get it (I am a native Southern Californian who has had his skin thinned due to Florida heat and is not liking the cooler weather in Texas right now)!

 

[ToTBellHop]

Not to pick on you personally, but let's break down Florida Vs. California further, shall we?

And I say this as a Disneyland fan and SoCal resident who has spent the last 20+ years online being snarky and making fun of Florida, or more specifically the management of the Walt Disney World Resort, constantly. But when it comes to Covid in 2021, the results are quite surprising for those Californians who still sniff their noses at the Sunshine State.

As of February 7th, 2021...

Covid Vaccine Doses Given Per 100 Residents
Florida = 12.39 Doses Per 100 Floridians
California =11.77 Doses Per 100 Floridians

Percent of Population Given Covid Vaccine Shots
Florida = 9.3% Population Given 1 Shot, 3.1% Population Given 2 Shots
California = 9.2% Population Given 1 Shot, 2.0% Population Given 2 Shots

Percent of Covid Vaccines Distributed by Feds to State That's Been Used
Florida = 70.2% Of Doses Used
California = 66.8% Of Doses Used

When it comes to Covid and its vaccine in 2021, Florida is winning.

More Than 12.7 Billion Shots Given: Covid-19 Tracker

Bloomberg counted up the shots administered in 184 countries and 59 US states and territories

www.bloomberg.com

Florida is winning now. California was doing abyssmally until recently and has caught up with many other states in the last week. I would not be surprised to see it overtake FL by the end of the month. One potential reason is, in fact, politics. FL has a Governor who consistently downplayed the virus (while also letting the state’s elderly know he was worried about them dying and not voting for him, so they’d get the vaccine first). Newsom did not downplay it. The result (along with the fact that CA is a blue state) is that a higher proportion of CA wants the vaccine.

The razor-thin margin between percentages receiving dose 1 shows that tightening between the states.

 

[Stevek]

Soooo...have the crowds returned to DTD/BV Street? Anyone ventured back out there?

I was in Torrance on Saturday and made a drive through downtown Redondo Beach (Riviera Village area) and it was packed with people. It looked like any other pre-pandemic weekend outside of the dining being moved to the street.

 

[Texas84]

Not to pick on you personally, but let's break down Florida Vs. California further, shall we?

And I say this as a Disneyland fan and SoCal resident who has spent the last 20+ years online being snarky and making fun of Florida, or more specifically the management of the Walt Disney World Resort, constantly. But when it comes to Covid in 2021, the results are quite surprising for those Californians who still sniff their noses at the Sunshine State.

As of February 7th, 2021...

Covid Vaccine Doses Given Per 100 Residents
Florida = 12.39 Doses Per 100 Floridians
California =11.77 Doses Per 100 Floridians

Percent of Population Given Covid Vaccine Shots
Florida = 9.3% Population Given 1 Shot, 3.1% Population Given 2 Shots
California = 9.2% Population Given 1 Shot, 2.0% Population Given 2 Shots

Percent of Covid Vaccines Distributed by Feds to State That's Been Used
Florida = 70.2% Of Doses Used
California = 66.8% Of Doses Used

When it comes to Covid and its vaccine in 2021, Florida is winning.

More Than 12.7 Billion Shots Given: Covid-19 Tracker

Bloomberg counted up the shots administered in 184 countries and 59 US states and territories

www.bloomberg.com

California =11.77 Doses Per 100 Floridians

There's your problem. Stop sending your vaccine to Florida.