Friday Video: Who Ruined Outdoor Dining?

Outdoor dining looks a hell of a lot different this spring than it has any time in the past five years — and you can blame the City Council for that.

For today’s Friday video, Streetsblog NYC’s engagement editor Emily Lipstein and video intern Ilan Cardenas-Silverstein visited roadway eateries across four boroughs (spoiler alert: there are none on Staten Island) to see firsthand what’s changed under the new rules for outdoor dining.

What they found were curbsides across the city relegated back to mere car storage when they once bustled with life. And of the relatively few eateries that have set up on the streets, the vast majority are located in the wealthiest parts of the city.