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How did curbside outdoor dining go this year?
It’s hard to tell. While the city approved several thousand businesses to set up in the street for the April-through-November seasonal program, just 300 have completed the application process to do so again next year — which we reported last month when DOT revealed the stats at a City Council hearing.
Now another data point shows that uptick this year was likely a lot lower than the 2,600 restaurants and bars awarded permits for curbside set-ups: Of the 59 restaurants approved for roadway dining in Hell’s Kitchen, just 13 set up in the roadway, neighborhood news site W42ST reported last week after a thorough survey of its home turf.
The roadblocks are plentiful, but boil down to the piles of regulations and fees that city piled onto the program when the City Council under Speaker Adrienne Adams voted to make it permanent and seasonal.
“There’s so much money – and so much opportunity for small business owners to make money – that’s getting taken away because of rebuilding the structures,” Ted Arenas, a bar owner who opted to set up in the roadway, told the outlet. Another neighborhood restaurateur complained of “lots of red tape” in the DOT’s “complicated” application process. Yet another panned the process as “very expensive and lengthy.”
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has endorsed making the program year-round, but he’ll have to think a lot bigger than that to clear the path for restaurants and bars to participate. A bill by Council Member Lincoln Restler to streamline the application process has the support of soon-to-be Council Speaker Julie Menin.
In other news:
First, we like to start the headlines during our December Donation Drive with a list of all the benefactors who’ve contributed since the previous day’s headlines. So thanks, Melissa! Thanks, Dorothy! Thanks, Holly! Thanks, Steven! Thanks, Trevor! Thanks, Kevin! Thanks, Rebecca! Thanks, Jacquelyn! And for the rest of you readers, if you’re thinking of donating, don’t forget our special offer!
Reinvent Albany and Streetsblog get action: Gov. Hochul vetoed a bill to exempt Co-Op City drivers from automated camera tickets for blocking bus stops, which we covered earlier this month:
The governor vetoed a bill that would exempt motorists in Co-op City from automatic ticket enforcement for blocking bus stops. Instead she’ll order adjustments if a New York City Transit Authority review shows they are warranted. pic.twitter.com/ULm5MK56J6
David was Streetsblog's do-it-all New York City beat reporter from 2015 to 2019. He returned as an editor in 2023 after a three-year stint at the New York Post.
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