Miners Alley Bars in Golden Hit a Dead End With Outdoor Seating

Dean and Aimee Valdez have owned Miners Saloon, a bar at 1109 Miners Alley in Golden, for six years. The bar sees lots of traffic, and in order to compensate for COVID restrictions in 2020, the city allowed Miners Saloon to put outdoor seating in the alley behind the bar, which was closed to through traffic.

Since then, "twenty-five percent of our sales have been outdoor seating," Aimee Valdez says.

But last month, the Valdezes received an email from Rick Murphy, Golden's community and economic development director, informing them that the use of the alley would be discussed at the August 16 Golden City Council study session. Since public comment was not going to be allowed at the session, the Valdezes submitted a written statement expressing their concerns and their desire to continue using the alley.

In their letter, they requested that council make their outdoor seating situation permanent, with both ends of the alley open for deliveries and the center closed for seating. When the entire alleyway is open, they said,  cars flying down Miners Alley make it dangerous for employees and customers entering and exiting the businesses that front the strip. Deliveries have not been impeded by the current situation, they added, and with the area slated to become a busy arts district, the safety of pedestrians should be a prime consideration.

During the study session, though, many councilmembers emphasized that the alley should be activated for pedestrians and bikers as well as cars, and said they did not like the alley being used only by private businesses.

"Putting barricades for private business when you look down the alley suggests that it is not welcoming for pedestrians to stroll down the alley, it is welcoming if you are visiting those businesses," Mayor Laura Weinberg said.

Aimee Valdez says that she was surprised by those complaints. "We hadn't heard anything about the walkway being a problem until we watched the study session," she adds. "No one has ever reached out to us about the walkway being a problem since they established it with us over a year ago."

The area is going to be seeing lots of development as it turns into an arts district. The currently closed Meyer Hardware store building at 1103 Arapahoe Street will soon be converted into the Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, with the help of a $2.5 million community revitalization grant. Astor House, a historic hotel and museum at 822 12th Street, is also being redeveloped. Many councilmembers said they want to see how these projects affect parking and pedestrians before they consider keeping the alley open for outdoor dining.

"Frankly, with Miners Alley [Performing Arts Center] being built and Astor House and already the restricted parking and mobility in the area, this is not the right time to continue that use, in my view," councilmember Don Cameron said. "I would rather get rid of it and see how the start-up of those new venues plays out."

"I think that was great for COVID, and I'm ready to be done with it," Mayor Weinberg concluded. After she asked for a thumbs-up, the council approved ending outdoor seating in the alley as of Labor Day.

"Quite frankly, we're kind of perplexed why they're doing this," Dean Valdez says. "There was no fact- finding, no study, no outreach," Aimee adds.

The Valdezes say they talked with councilmember Casey Brown after the session, and he seemed to understand their concerns. "It's a valid criticism to say we could have done a better job outreaching and communicating to businesses in the community," Brown says. "I think they made some really excellent points in their comments."

As the alley is currently laid out, Brown doesn't think there's enough room for bicyclists and pedestrians. The original pilot program for outdoor seating required a five-foot pathway through the alley to meet Americans With Disabilities Act and fire regulations; councilmembers had noticed that the pathway was not consistently maintained, and tables often were pushed into it.

"We're committed to making other investments in that alley. I think we all agree we want it activated and lively and the dining has been helpful," Brown says. "In the end, it's not really that accommodating to non-restaurant guests."

Miners Saloon is "a really fantastic business," Brown adds. "I am really hopeful that a lot of their business won't leave them."

Others are not as optimistic. "It's going to harm my business, it's going harm my staff, it's going to harm the adjoining businesses owned by other people," says Stephen Gould, owner of Golden Moon Speakeasy, which also fronts the alley.

Some city council members note that the alley seating was supposed to be compensation for dealing with COVID, and that Miners Saloon and Golden Moon Speakeasy managed to operate without outdoor space before the pandemic. "I'd like to see some justification for why they now feel they have to have the seating to continue to be successful," councilmember Paul Haseman said at the meeting.

A lot has changed about the hospitality industry since 2020, though, and Emily Gedeon, communications manager for Golden City Council, says that the group will continue to work with the businesses on possibilities for the alley space. "From the city perspective, we're really interested in continuing to collaborate," Gedeon says.

But for now, any outside seating in Miners Alley has dried up.