What began as an emergency plan during the pandemic has become a controversial revenue booster for restaurants. Rana Novini reports.
What was born out of necessity during the pandemic has become a boon for restaurants across New York City. And now outdoor dining sheds may be here to stay — for most of the year, at least.
The al fresco dining areas were allowed on an emergency basis during the COVID-19 pandemic. So for years now, restaurants have wondered "What’s the long-term plan?" But they didn't get much in terms of a clear answer.
At last, it now appears there is one. A plan has been formulated by the city to keep outdoor dining around for years to come.
A proposed bill would allow sidewalk dining year-round. That involves seating that is not located inside dining sheds taking up room on city streets, but rather areas on sidewalks only.
The same bill would allow "streeteries" — aka the dining sheds on the streets — to stay up from April through November each year.
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"We’ve got to move from the emergency program and really standardize and make it more sustainable and I think this is a big step forward," said NYC Hospitality Alliance Executive Director Andrew Rigie, who said the bill is a good compromise. "We’ve been waiting a long time but I think it’s an historic agreement. We’re gonna cut red tape so they can get outdoor dining licenses faster."
While all the details are not quite clear yet, restaurants would be required to get a license and pay a fee for their outdoor dining plan. But Rigie says the process will be easier and cheaper than it was before the pandemic.
"It’s going to significantly cut the fees, it’s going to be permitted for thousands of restaurants that were restricted," he said.
While diners seemed on board with the plan, some restaurants worry about the cost and hassle of taking down their structures in the winter.
"You have to think of long term: Do I really want to keep it? Because once you take it down one time, you don’t know if you want to keep doing that," said Jose Mendoza, an employee at El Mil Sabores on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.
Mendoza said that at his restaurant, customers use the streetery all year long. He thinks that in the end, many restaurants will be forced to weigh the costs.
"They won’t want to keep hiring someone to do it for them and then they got to do it themselves. They’re gonna get tired of doing that as well," he said.
This bill has the approval of Mayor Eric Adams, through it still needs to be finalized and voted on next month. If passed, the permitting process would start but it wouldn’t go into effect for restaurants until November 2024.
