New Yorkers could access roadway dining all year long — including in single-digit winter weather — if the city moves forward with a bill introduced Thursday by a local lawmaker.
The new bill would pave the way for restaurants to use nearby sidewalk and street space 365 days per year — and make it easier for other establishments, like some grocery stores and cafes, to join in the practice.
Outdoor dining exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the city allowed nearly 12,000 establishments to participate, boosting their capacity and revenue. The practice also gave restaurants a way to adhere to social distancing protocols during the economically fraught period.
But the program — once both loosely regulated and free — transformed last year when the city transportation department added new regulations and fees to help mitigate the rat, parking and safety issues caused by the outdoor dining craze. Restaurant owners have criticized the new process as expensive and tedious, and it only permits roadway dining seasonally. As of March, fewer than 2,000 establishments were approved for outdoor dining, either on the sidewalk or the road, according to a Gothamist analysis.
“The Adams administration overhauled the program and it’s failing,” said the bill’s main sponsor, City Councilmember Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn. “We have more than 80% of the restaurants and cafes that used to have outdoor dining no longer have outdoor structures. It’s become a bureaucratic boondoggle."
Under the city’s current programs, delis and grocery stores with a permit from the health department are allowed to offer outdoor dining.
But Restler said that the existing law leaves out establishments with a permit from the state agriculture department. He said his bill aims to fix that.
While the measure aims to make outdoor dining easier for businesses to provide, it also includes new requirements for snow removal, sanitation and how far roadway dining can be from busy intersections, Restler said.
Anna Correa, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams’ office, said his administration would review the legislation — and criticized the City Council for previous changes to the program.
“The Adams administration implemented the largest outdoor dining program in the country, cutting bureaucratic hurdles to make participation as easy as possible for restaurants,” she said in a statement. “Despite the City Council’s mismanagement of the outdoor dining process, we remain committed to supporting businesses and ensuring they have the tools and resources they need to thrive. Thanks to our efforts, thousands of establishments have already been permitted to operate in its first year as a permanent program.”
The bill is being co-sponsored by six other councilmembers, along with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. It has early support from the nonprofit Open Plans, which advocates for pedestrians and street safety in the city.
“Over the last five years, New Yorkers have demonstrated that their appetite for outdoor dining is too large to be satisfied by existing regulations,” Sara Lind, the group’s co-executive director, said in a statement. “So going forward, improving, strengthening, and lengthening the program is one of the best ways to make our streets welcoming to people, not just cars.”
This story has been updated to clarify the types of permits grocery stores and cafes need to operate outdoors.
