Friday’s Headlines: Wither Outdoor Dining Edition
We learned the hard way on Thursday night what the Times reported on Thursday morning: Outdoor dining has withered and died.
Only 500 restaurants and bars have set up curbside dining this year, city officials told the Times — down from many thousands at the height of the pandemic-era al fresco program.
Working our way across the Village on Thursday evening, we encountered spot-after-spot with hour-long waits for its precious few outdoor seats. Barely any restaurants had set up in the roadway — the ones that had were all filled up.
The first “outdoor dining season” after Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams decimated the program began on April 1 and is now in full effect — yet the City Council has not passed fixes that Speaker Julie Menin announced in February.
The Times quoted Council Member Lincoln Restler dinging the ex-Mayor Adams for decimating the program with “extensive red tape.” The ex-mayor’s administration deserves some of the blame for the program’s collapse, but not all — it was the Council under Speaker Adams who ultimately passed the legislation.
Sadly, things don’t seem to be moving fast enough to fix those mistakes for 2026, which is gearing up to be the king of hot that sends New Yorkers into the streets.
In other news:
- New Jersey is playing hardball with FIFA and threatening to charge $150 for train tickets to World Cup games if the football and grift association doesn’t cough up more money. (The Athletic, Gothamist)
- Gov. Mikie Sherrill blamed her predecessor Phil Murphy:
- Vital City released an amazing interactive map of an MIT study about pedestrian flows in New York City, which we covered in February.
- Weekend subway ridership growth is outpacing weekday subway ridership growth. (Brooklyn Eagle)
- The Trump administration finally relented and paid the MTA the money it owed for the Second Avenue Subway. (Politico, amNY)
- … as the president “yanked” $74 million in federal highway grants amid a dispute over immigrant truck drivers. (NY Post, ABC7NY)
- Gov. Hochul wants to spend half of her pied-à-terre tax on public sector pensions. (NY Post)
- Channel 4’s story about “business concerns” about the 72nd Street bike lane featured just one business, with many unfounded concerns. (NBC New York)
- Mayor Mamdani gave Hell Gate a non-answer about the future of the BQE.
- Two drivers struck and killed a 74-year-old man walking across the FDR Drive near East Houston Street. (Gothamist)
- Gov. Hochul wants Mayor Mamdani to “slow spending” in exchange for more state funding. (NYS Focus)
Read More:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
