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Outdoor dining supporters press NYC Council to pass permanent law
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jul 12, 2023
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By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jul 12, 2023
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Halfway into summer, the City Council is facing pressure once again to pass a bill that would make outdoor dining permanent in New York City, as the latest emergency order that allows restaurants to operate the sidewalk spaces is set to expire next week.
The outdoor dining program is credited with saving businesses and roughly 100,000 jobs in the industry through the pandemic, according to the Adams administration — and restaurants and patrons who have come to rely on it have demanded a lasting version.
Mayor Eric Adams, who promised to stabilize the city’s economy and restore its tourism industry during his 2021 mayoral campaign, has taken to personally lobbying for the bill’s passage.
“Outdoor dining revived our economy, saved 100,000 jobs and changed our city for the better,” he said in a tweet Tuesday. “Let's get this passed!”
But the program’s detractors, in a series of lawsuits, say it invites noise and congestion, and poses unneeded obstacles to New Yorkers with disabilities.
Intro 31-B was first introduced in February of 2022, setting guidelines for a permanent outdoor dining program. But it took the City Council and Adams’ office more than a year to agree on the details — such as how much it should cost restaurants to pay for the sidewalk or street space and how those fees should be structured. Finally in May, the Council unveiled the final version of the bill.
Among other things, the bill said the program would be run by the Department of Transportation and that the “roadway cafes” would be seasonal — one of the more contentious points for restaurants, as it means they would have to store the structures during the winter months.
City Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez, who co-sponsored the bill, said it had to go through an environmental review process, and that she expects the Council to vote on it within the next few weeks.
“The community has been vocal on their concerns,” she said. “One of their asks, [has been an] environmental review and we have it and so we're looking forward to seeing its completion and seeing ultimately folks vote for it in the City Council in the near future; we're hoping by August.”
But Maulin Mehta with the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit that promotes improvements in city infrastructure, said it can’t happen soon enough.
Restaurants have been operating on a COVID-era emergency was passed during the height of the pandemic. The emergency order has intermittently expired and been extended ever since. The last emergency order was enacted June 20, and was set to remain in effect for 30 days — meaning it will expire again July 19.
“If something succeeds in the courts and overturns, invalidates the emergency order that the current program is operating under, you could face a situation where you have thousands of businesses that all of a sudden overnight are operating illegal, outdoor dining structures,” Mehta said. “And that could mean more lawsuits, more complaints, more enforcement issues.”
Tagged
public safety
Politics
transportation
outdoor dining
Catalina Gonella
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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