New Yorkers will say good-bye on Sunday to the curbside outdoor dining season — which, per the regulations for roadside streeteries passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Adams, must be removed on Nov. 29 and cannot return until April 1.
It's a sad and unnecessary theft of the curbside lane from public use to private use, as the space used by thousands of restaurants will now be seized, in most cases for free, by car owners for storage of their private vehicles.
So many advocates want the outdoor dining program expanded to full-year because it is a success: it helps restaurant owners, who in turn hire more people, which leads to more tax revenue for the city and a more lively economic climate for all businesses. Plus, the restaurants pay, in some case thousands of dollars, for curbside space that drivers, whose parked cars do nothing for the local economy, get more or less for free.
Last week, we reported that the Department of Transportation, which has done a respectable job running the program after the full-year pandemic-era program was neutered by Mayor Adams and his supporters on the City Council, expects that very few restaurants will pay the fees to return on April 1.
It will be a great loss. Mayor-elect Mamdani has said he supports full-year outdoor dining, so we'll see if he'll put his money where our mouths are.
Meanwhile, we were devouring news as we digested our Thanksgiving feast. Here's what we got:
- Lots of outlets (NYDN, NY Post) are declaring the Speaker vote all but won by centrist Council Member Julie Menin, but there's more than a month until the vote, so Streetsblog offered some equal time to Bronx Council Member Amanda Farías, who vows to be better than Menin on livable streets issues.
- Meanwhile, the Post rightly pointed out that Menin, who was not elected in any citywide vote, is seeking to be a check on the ambitions of Mayor Mamdani, who was. Mamdani said on Thursday that he can work with Menin. (Gothamist)
- NY1 got much better "man-on-the-street" comments for its latest attempt to take down the Court Street bike lane.
- Council Member Vickie Paladino will get her speed bumps after last week's car takeover of a corner of her sprawling eastern Queens district, WPIX reported. But as Streetsblog pointed out earlier this week, much more work is needed to rein in reckless drivers — work that Paladino has consistently opposed.
- This was one L of a Thanksgiving feast. (NY Post)
- Williamsburg365 likes a crackdown on illegal dumping. Remember that when you hear local complaints about trash summonses on Fridays.
- Council Member Bob Holden — NIMBY to the very end! (QNS)
- A man was run over and killed on the FDR Drive. (NYDN)
- Orchard Street is the "coolest." But you knew that. (NY Post)
- And, finally, meet the makers of the West Side Rag, one of our favorite community papers in this Fox TV clip:
