Update: On Thursday afternoon, August 3, the City Council passed a bill making sidewalk and roadway cafes permanent, with some important caveats. “It would permit year round sidewalk cafe dining and seasonal roadway cafe dining,” it states, with roadway cafes operating only from April through November. Street sheds must be taken down in the winter, leaving UWS Councilmember Gale Brewer wondering where they will be stored. The Department of Transportation will administer the program, with many of the details, design guidelines, and rules yet to be determined. Brewer voted yes on the bill, lauding it as a “compromise,” but forcefully advising the DOT to “make sure you have enough inspectors” to ensure enforcement, and “please, pay attention to rulemaking, oversight, and the issues that have been brought to the agency’s attention.” The bill passed 34 to 11 with no abstentions.
By Ed Hersh
The Upper West Side’s outdoor dining scene, replete with sidewalk seating and year-round wooden dining sheds, is in for a major makeover if a new bill, which is likely to be voted on by the City Council on Thursday, passes. The bill would permanently allow — but further regulate — outdoor dining across the city, permit more of it in the outer boroughs, and institute a rigorous application process and fee structure.
Outdoor dining exploded across the city in the summer of 2020 after COVID-19 forced the shutdown of the city’s indoor dining spots in March. In June, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled his “Open Restaurants” program, which allowed for expanded outdoor dining on city streets and sidewalks with very few restrictions. In September 2020, the mayor announced that outdoor dining would be extended indefinitely. (Eater NY has a complete timeline here.) But while there were guidelines for dining structures (see the latest version here), and an application was required, there was no actual approval process. The result is the mosaic of dining sheds in varying states of cleanliness and disrepair on our streets, prompting complaints of little-to-no enforcement of rules regarding vermin, noise, and abandoned sheds.
Here, according to Curbed and other sources, is how these issues are addressed in the bill:
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- There will be two kinds of outdoor dining allowed: “sidewalk” cafes, which could operate year-round; and “roadside” dining areas, with seating and barriers which would be seasonal, temporary and only allowed from April through November.
- Under the bill, the permanent sheds would have to be removed and roadside dining structures taken down during the winter months. The city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) would be in charge of developing new design guidelines for streetside dining areas, along with faster enforcement for noncompliance. Those guidelines have yet to be developed.
- Restaurants would now pay both license and usage fees to the city for roadside and sidewalk cafes.
- There would be a grace period (probably until the end November 2024) by which time all restaurants would have to comply.
Outdoor dining and the “streeteries” it creates elicit strong opinions. The restaurant industry credits outdoor dining with saving their livelihoods and thousands of jobs during and after the pandemic. Opponents cite noise, filth, crowds, crumbling sheds, rats, and a lack of enforcement of existing regulations.
Andrew Rigie is executive director of the New York Hospitality Alliance, which represents the hotel and restaurant industry and supports the bill. (Rigie also serves on the Upper West Side’s Community Board 7.) He calls it a compromise. “Outdoor dining saved literally thousands of jobs and evolved with the pandemic as a means for survival,” he told WSR. “But what they put up was never designed to be permanent.”
Rigie envisions that under the new design guidelines to be written by the DOT, “sidewalk cafes will go back to looking like sidewalk cafes before the pandemic: tables, chairs, umbrellas, planters.” And more open, temporary structures will replace the boxy, fully enclosed sheds. But what about the crumbling, dirty sheds we often see now? Rigie says “the city has been doing a lot more enforcement recently, and under the permanent program, there will be an approval process. I have to imagine there will be a much different situation than what we’ve had.”
While Rigie asserts that “overall, the future of outdoor dining creates a more livable city,” Leslie Clark isn’t buying it. She’s a Greenwich Village resident who lives adjacent to a restaurant with outdoor seating, and is part of an organization called CueUP NY, a coalition of community groups, block associations, and residents — including some from the UWS — that vehemently opposes the expansion of outdoor dining. She lives in Community Board 2, where she says the number of outdoor cafes has ballooned from 184 before the pandemic to 954 in three years.
Clark claims that since the DOT took over enforcement from the Department of Consumer Affairs three years ago, “there is no or very lax enforcement” of current guidelines. She told WSR on a phone interview that complaints about noise and sidewalk clearance spaces are rarely heeded, and when they are, inspections often bring no results. And now, she says, “the same people who haven’t enforced the law are charged with writing the (new) rules.”
Clark says that CueUP is continuing to press legal challenges to zoning changes connected to outdoor dining. She contends that having so many outdoor dining sites causes “existential changes to your neighborhood — your sleep depends on how many drunks and how much hilarity there is outside your window.”
Outdoor dining can also be an existential issue for neighborhood restaurateurs like Jeremy Wladis, of The Restaurant Group, which owns Fred’s, Good Enough To Eat, Anita’s Burritos, and Harvest Kitchen on the UWS. “We would have never made it through COVID without it, stayed open, and kept people working,” Wladis told WSR. “Now, everything costs more, including what we pay for labor, food and beverage, and then there’s garbage collection, water, utilities.” Wladis says “you can only raise your prices so much, you have to have more volume” to stay afloat, and for that, outdoor dining is a necessity.
Councilmember Gale Brewer says on balance, she supports the bill. “We have to start somewhere. It’s a compromise I think we can work with.” She is emphatic that successful restaurants are key to the Upper West Side’s economic health. “They have to survive,” she says, but she also believes the additional cost of putting up and taking down temporary dining structures will limit the number of restaurants offering roadside dining. As for enforcement, she believes the DOT will have sufficient staff to ensure compliance. “And we’re going to hold them to that,” she says. But if it doesn’t work as planned “you can change the law, it can always be amended.”
Meanwhile, Jeremy Wladis is hopeful that the DOT will seek input from all sides on the new rules and design standards, including how they will be rolled out and their potential impact on local businesses. “I do respect that roadway dining needs to change,” he says. “Let’s work together to come up with a solution that works for everybody, something safe that keeps the streets clean, keeps the neighborhood alive, and maybe even gives it a nice European feel.”
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No public hearing?
No notice to residents or opportunity for residents to weigh in?
And the City has permitted the restaurant lobby to write the rules.
As for “economic health”:
1) the City has done nothing to help retail which is being destroyed due to high rents, ecommerce and shoplifting.
2) not everything can be a restaurant – they are already cannibalizing each other.
Democrats are just like the Republicans..
Unbelievable.
This bill has existed for 18 months!!! Nothing is good enough for some people.
Kevin,
When was there a public hearing?
Was there an environmental study?
This was supposed to be for the Covid emergency. That emergency is over so why is it being made permanent?
And worth noting – it is retail that is now in emergency status and needs help. Not restaurants/bars.
BTW restaurants also got the gift of take-out drinks 🙂
Political parties have nothing to do with anything, and neither do other business when this is an article about RESTAURANTS. People LOVE eating out of doors. I know I do. What’s the big deal? Responsible restaurants have a right to please their customers.
The SHACKS don’t make the neighborhood look like Europe, it looks like South America.
not at the expense of residents who live here.
Nobody comes to the UWS to dine. Come on. The residents who live here do so to enjoy things like outdoor dining.
Sam,
The street doesn’t belong to private business – issue is not about restaurants “pleasing their customers”
I’m with you here. I don’t understand the outrage. People like outdoors, restaurants have more seating and therefore more profitable. Of course it is important to keep them hygienic, but other than that, they are good for business.
How about being good for everyone else, who does not own or work at the restaurant, but who lives, walks, tries to sleep in the area with these sheds in the street, impeding everything, with patrons making noise, trash and making more trash and food in the street.
The outdoor dining is a royal pain. Walking from 79th to 80th on the east side of Amsterdam is a gauntlet of eating extensions blocking easy access for those walking. Somehow there is a shrine to outdoor dining when the vast majority of restaurants on the UWS are mediocre at best and often overpriced. Not surprised that restaurants call the shots and we pay in quality of life,
The appointed community board has representatives so its not surprising there are no hearings. They have an agenda. They are appointed by Gale Brewer and Mark Levine.
Wow. Compromise! What a radical idea. Usually both sides insist on having things exactly the way they want it, with no willingness to give.
I don’t think this solution is perfect, but it seems pretty fair and like each side does OK.
I have mixed feelings about outdoor dining. Some situations are better than others. I am supportive of helping restaurants. But there should be some guidelines, which seems to be the plan. And they should not be getting valuable NYC real estate for free, particularly with so many empty storefronts in the city. So charging a reasonable fee seems to make a lot of sense.
I’m tired of the argument “If we don’t do X, we’ll lose jobs.” Substitute X with whatever troublesome problem you want ; manufacturing weapons, fracking … So what if we lose jobs for the common good.
Look all the neighborhood residents who don’t or can’t work. We have more than enough jobs. That doesn’t seem to be our problem!
Oh, no! The rat shacks have got to go! If Covid is over (as they proclaim), then no need to use an entire lane that is needed for cars, trucks, parking, deliveries and smooth movement of traffic for restaurant expansion – while the interiors of those restaurants sit EMPTY. Since the shacks’ appearance, stalled traffic, resulting honking and idling exhaust has increased HUGELY on the avenues. Time for the rat shacks to go!
They don’t use an entire lane. They use one or more parking spaces.
Check out Cafe Luxembourg’s huge shed that blocks the entrance to 200 West 70th.
Older people can’t even access Access a Ride
Totally agree. Though I’m eagerly awaiting a response from the “I never leave Manhattan and I don’t have a car so no one else should either and I’m going to act like I care about the environment to justify my negativity when I really don’t” brigade.
Getting rid of a percentage of the sheds will open up parking and reduce traffic, which will make the streets (and sidewalks) safer for everyone. Because no matter what people do to try to deter cars and trucks, the majority of them are not going anywhere. They should not have carte blanche to run the city but they also shouldn’t be treated as the enemy. It will also make it a lot safer for the bikers.
There’s no doubt that some sheds are decrepit eyesores that attract garbage and rats; many are unkempt and even filthy. We understand that restaurants were struggling during the pandemic, and that cafe sheds were helpful. However, unless there are strictly enforced standards and rules, it is unfair to continue to allow these structures to inflict excessive noise, trash and rats on the public. The new rules and enforcement must be vigorous or restaurant sheds should not be allowed at all.
The main reason certain proponents of the sidewalk sheds want these sheds is to spite car drivers. Their desire to spite car drivers takes precedence over all else. Nothing else matters, just a desire to impose a Sex and the City lifestyle where people who live in Manhattan don’t know a world outside Manhattan or gentrified NYC.
I completely agree with you and I’m so glad that community members, fully capable of articulating what’s going on, are finally beginning to call out these zealots. Their entire agenda, and the source of their agenda, are crystal clear. It’s absurd and disgraceful. Masked in safety and environmental concerns when, in the end, these lobbyists form a huge web of deceit, greed and bribery. I see the whole picture, many others do as well and we are just beginning to articulate exactly what we’ve known all along. We absolutely must not stand for this. It sickens me.
Couldn’t agree more! They are elitist zealots at that and because they are a lobby and give big bucks to a number of the politicians in this city and state, they have accrued power over the people of New York! The street-eating restaurant sheds are doing one thing! They are uniting New Yorkers of all political parties against them. We must hold these council members and the Mayor responsible for acting on behalf of the lobbyists over the tax-payers and voters of NY. The public realm must not be auctioned off to the highest bidders. We demand that public space for walking, for having a quality of life, and for being able to park cars remain public.
It’s not too late for action. There will likely be another lawsuit from CueUp who have been diligently fighting this and won a lawsuit removing the right to proffer executive orders from the Mayor based on. emergency conditions! Those conditions ended long ago as did the need for restaurant sheds!
WRITE your elected leaders in opposition to this plan. Tell them next time you intend to vote them out!!
I disagree. I drive and park but still want *nicely maintained* sheds. I like eating outside when the weather is nice.
I like eating outdoors when the weather is not so nice. It is a lot healthier than sitting one on top of the other in an overheated restaurant. Patrons don’t give a damn about other people. They will sit inside wheezing and coughing. Probably some of them have fever.
On the other hand you can enjoy eating outdoors in chilly weather, Dress appropriately and enjoy the briskness of being outdoors,
Um… I just kind of like eating outdoors in nice weather and I like having street life versus endless blocks of vacant storefronts and scaffolding caves. I am a street parker but if my primary objective was to have a driveway I’d just move to the burbs.
I like dining outdoors too, but I prefer to do that on the sidewalk not the shed. The majority of sheds are unappealing from the interior.
Many people share my preference apparently. Often the sidewalks seating is full/nearly but the shed seating is empty/nearly. There should be some kind of “use it lose it” standard for these empty sheds.
That’s lovely you enjoy an outside restaurant. No one is saying to get rid of them. The issue is , they have taken over the streets AND sidewalks. The empty storefronts are not going to change as long as the city allows landlords to out price a vendor. Look around at how many long time restaurants and stores have had to close because of price hike. AND, the politicians in this city are proud that we now hold the status of the most expensive city in the country. Goody for us. Republican and Democratic politicians agree on one thing…get rid of the middle class, at least with their actions.
Why are cars more important than other things?
Fewer cars makes the city more livable.
Cars are not more important. Car owners should have rights too. More livable? I don’t have to know to guess that 99% of car owners are not driving from the UWS to Macy’s. There are reasons why we have cars. Why should there be empty street sheds 6 out of 7 nights a week. Why should the restaurants be able to have inside, right outside their door, at the curb, in the street and if they’re lucky, around the corner filled with tables? So many cry about pedestrians getting knocked over by bikes. Try walking on Columbus between 83-84. Or, around the corner on 84. What would make it more livable is to walk safely on the sidewalks without being knocked around. Not to mention being surrounded by weed and cigarette smell constantly.
Pay no mind to Marc’s comments. Same drivel coming from all paid for Trans Alt “activists” with the phrase “Fewer cars makes the city more livable”. I’ve heard this line too many times already. But it’s perfectly fine to have thousands of illegal motorbikes running rampant on the sidewalk. How is that more livable?
and thousands of illegal migrants sleeping on sidewalks and now in McCarron Park. But cars….lol. From an outsiders perspective NY looks so dumpy. The sheds look like a total sanitation issue. The idea that there are rats in those things overnight is disgusting. Who would eat in those things???
Livable for who? Those who can spend tons of money just to say they live on the Upper West Side? Most of the area workers who use these street parking spots can’t afford to live here.
Most area workers use the subway – it’s far more affordable than driving. I’m sure having a car is convenient for those driving to their weekend homes in the burbs but let’s not pretend the majority of UWS workers are driving
No one said that it’s a majority of UWS workers who are driving. But they are a notable enough minority and the workers who do drive here can’t afford to live here even if they wanted to. At the end of the day, the UWS isn’t Midtown.
If parking is such a hassle, why would someone continue to commute by car, instead of bus/subway or by vespa-type scooter that can easily fit into a side street parking space. IMO it is better to adapt than to complain.
People drive cars because they have needs the transit system cannot accommodate or the transit system doesn’t do a good enough job for them. If you live in a part of NYC without subway service or live in a part of outer borough NYC where the subways are at capacity and overcrowded, you’d sing a different tune. If you had to use a commuter railroad and had to make multiple transfers, you’d sing a different tune. But since you likely live in Manhattan and assuming much of your life doesn’t require you to venture outside Manhattan or select gentrified Brooklyn neighborhoods, this is all easy to say.
Try using a vespa type scooter to drive all the way from Staten Island or a part of Queens with no subway, in the rain, in the freezing cold, or just any day.
Fewer people too.
I’ve tried to write to councilman Abreu and others about this. I’m glad to see some provision for permanent outdoor dining. Regulation on the allowed structures and a fee schedule make sense. But having to take down the sheds for the winter basically makes them impossible for most restaurants. Where are they going to store the shed when it’s not in use?
Most people may have moved on from COVID. Most people may have only heard the first half of the WHO’s announcement saying that after 3.5 years they can no longer call it an “emergency,” but the virus is still killing thousands of people every day (and leaving more newly disabled) and now is very much not the time to be dropping precautions. Yes, I’m vaccinated. But every time you get infected (vaccinated or not) your risk of developing permanent long COVID symptoms increases dramatically. That’s not a risk some of us can take. I haven’t been infected yet, and I intend to keep it that way with simple precautions like not putting myself in a crowded indoor space with unmasked strangers. Those of us with fragile health, or who just don’t want to risk serious permanent health consequences, need year-round outdoor dining to remain.
With respect….
Restaurant dining is not an entitlement.
Many people cannot afford to eat at restaurants at all ( and no one is offering them a subsidy so that they can.)
Moreover, adding heating (or air-conditioning) for a shed is not good for the environment.
Oh so this is now an environmental and social justice cause? OK.
The dining sheds aren’t preventing COVID transmission. The tables are just as close together as inside. The sheds are as closed as they can get them so diners won’t be subjected to the weather. If not being infected with whatever virus a fellow diner might have to a big concern (and I agree that for some it is and should be) you should not be dining in either a restaurant or a dining shed.
And there lies the irony. The sheds were supposed to adhere to a standard to protect the diners… which meant good air flow and not enclosed. At the beginning, 3 walls and a roof did not qualify as outdoor dining and we were subject to rules of indoor dining. But somewhere along the line that criteria was dropped and they became just areas in the street to sit. I support pgw’s comments above. Let’s have street dining that allows aerated options for people who won’t eat inside. There are many!! That will help the restaurants, the people who want or need truly aerated /safer dining and shut down many of the unsightly and dirty shacks that do not help anyone and just take up space.
I’m been an Epidemiologist for more than 20 years and I couldn’t agree with you more that the current, enclosed roadway structures will obviously not at all prevent the spread of COVID. These huge roadway shacks have clearly morphed into extended restaurants and are not any different than sitting indoors. It’s laughable. You also don’t need an Epidemiolost to confirm what’s obvious. So their justification cannot be based on a COVID protocol at all. That’s all total nonsense and we all know it. It’s now time for community members to let these activists know that we’re aware of the full scope of what has been going on here.
Based on the new law, if it passes, I don’t think we will be seeing the fully enclosed “buildings” that are some of the sheds. But not all of them are fully enclosed as you describe them. Maybe half of them. The ones that are not fully enclosed most definitely do prevent infections, even if the tables are close together.
Don’t be so sure. Last summer 3 family members got COVID at a BBQ
They need to also require the restaurants to post a bond to cover the costs of removal if the restaurant goes out of business. Too many places closing and just leaving their sheds behind.
Welcome to the third world.
The “third world” is full of people eating crudo and sipping $20 cocktails in sidewalk sheds? Who knew! I’ll have to visit
I think you missed the point. It’s not the crudo that makes it third world, it’s the eating it out of a shack on the street that makes it third world.
UWS-er didn’t miss the point. I think you did.
Thank you B Johnson for being spot on.
You saved me a reply to UWS-er.
I don’t have a lot of faith in the city’s plans or promises. Numerous 79th Street Block Association members have complained to 311 about the unused sheds between Broadway and Amsterdam on 79th Street (notably Coppola’s, Irving Farm Coffee, and Blondie’s Sport). Supposedly they were inspected by the Department of Transportation, but the problem persists unchanged..
If the sheds are not used nor maintained, they are are eyesore and a health problem (rats..) for the neighborhood.
I was all for the outdoor program for restaurants during and in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, but the emergency is over. Restaurants were given a major assist from the city, which they are now taking for granted and in many instances, bringing down neighborhoods.
Bravo!! And worst of all-the block you mentioned has not been cleaned since Covid. The rats are out every night and I just can’t get my arms around why people like to eat on top of a rat apartment house complete with breeding. My doorman said never park in the block because in 1 night rats ate through all the wires in his car and it was infested due to it being a fantastic place to give birth (which means you have to steam clean the entire front end).
When the fox lives in the henhouse (Riegle) this is a total conflict of interest.As we have learned-it’s a pay to play city and with over 30 years of steamrolling the district and the city (seemingly clueless that a good leader knows when to let a succession occur) she sees no issue ceding public land to private businesses. Especially since not one in this area takes pride in our neighborhood and ensures the cleanliness of their hut or the street around it. Here’s to you Gale-bon appetite 🥺
Irving Farm’s was removed last week!
It’s not shocking that I can’t sit in a lawn chair in a parking spot to sun bathe.
COVID is over, legally. and in my opinion numerically. In one of the pictures here (85th and Amsterdam), there is literally not enough room for a mom and child to walk the block unimpeded, To say nothing of the rats, increased traffic, etc.
Fascism is the collusion of government and corporations. It is neither conservative nor progressive. It is simply the acknowlegement of the obvious benefits for governments and corporations to collaborate and ideally collude.
You could not have said that better, and with great humor no less.
WISHING AND DREAMING OUT LOUD …….Dear 3 blind mice, please MAKE MY DAY by removing those unnecessary yuckie filthy and now outdated restaurant street sheds and replacing them with clean streets just like the old days only 3 years ago so i can again walk without fury things running over my feet and people with trays walking into me……..I can dream , can’t I ?……. STILL DREAMING I would also love to see those wonderful handsome big truck street sweepers again. ZZZZZZ
I hope the DOT take in consideration in their design for the roadside dining sheds that the roads has been diminished by bike and bus lanes. Add double and delivery parking, it become huge bottle necks that emergency and fire trucks take longer to pass through. Hence, their sirens could be heard for longer time and even from the middle of the avenues. Ah, the sounds of the city just got longer and louder.
Simple: sidewalk seating necessitates extended sidewalks. Pedestrians win 🤙🏼
Get rid of all the permanent sheds. They are so unhygienic and contributed to the explosion of garbage and rats in the city. There is no room to walk on the sidewalks and no room for cars to park.
When is the City going to starting helping and subsidizing local retail and shops?
Why didn’t anyone care about helping Laytner’s or John Koch Antiques?
Only restaurants count?
I’m glad to hear about the new rules. Outdoor dining was one of the few bright spots during the pandemic and stopping it completely would be a huge missed opportunity. It would be great if rules about noise, vermin, etc. are enforced.
Yes, it’s unfair that retail stores don’t have the same opportunities, and that some restaurants are better suited to outdoor dining. Hopefully the rents will reflect that. Retail has changed so much now that it’s so easy to shop online but there has to be a way to help storeowners. I would love to see more incentive to prevent years-long vacancies.
Would it really take until November 2024 for restaurants to comply? It seems like this program could be up and running before then.
This compromise only works if the licensing fees and fines provide consistent funding for DOT monitoring. Gale Brewer “believes” DOT will be able to staff this program. That’s big if when no city budget will be spared from the fallout of cratering commercial real estate tax collections. Why not spell out the funding in the legislation so we don’t have to suffer unpleasant surprises? This is what smart legislators do. Who wants to run for city council?
Right on Steve, the way the administrative powers that be have completely fumbled legal marijuana roll out makes me highly dubious of any vaguely worded proposals. I’m in the minority here, clearly, but I live above a busy and bustling restaurant with a sidewalk shack and I enjoy seeing all the people in their outfits laughing and having intense conversations whenever I walk out my door, after 2020 I just got a hit of positive energy seeing people out enjoying life
Outdoor dining has been one of the few improvements in the urban landscape over the last decade which actually makes it more worthwhile to live in the city vs the burbs. It brings life to blocks that otherwise feel like zombie movies between abandoned storefronts and eternal scaffolding,.
While area workers can’t afford to live here and live in transit deserts.
What does outdoor dining have to do with the cost of living? Other than maybe if we kill street life altogether the neighborhood decline will accelerate and then yes it will be cheaper because it will be lousy.
If you call the UWS a transit desert I don’t know what to say. We have how many bus lines and subways that come to the UWS? How exactly are you defining transit desert.
You’re saying outdoor dining makes it more worthwhile to live in the city vs. the burbs (which includes more suburban parts of NYC). Assuming that is true, this is the case for the Upper West Siders who can afford to spend a lot of money on a mediocre apartment owned by landlords such as Brusco (which have the majority of lower end market rate UWS apartments) while the area workers can’t even afford that luxury.
No, no and no!!!
Yes, yes, and yes! I am thrilled to have out door dining all year around.
Until you get run over by a E-Bike, on a sidewalk.
Or until a cyclist gets walked into by a pedestrian
There is a lawsuit just won that places an injunction on the restaurant sheds. “Judge rules there is no emergency reason for outdoor dining, issues https://thevillagesun.com/judge-rules-mayors-economic-rationale-doesnt-justify-outdoor-dining-issues-The Village https://thevillagesun.com/judge-rules-mayors-economic-rationale-doesnt-justify-outdoor-dining-issues-injunction?fbclid=IwAR0dDFSyVUYPMNTmaLvI66y4IF2DVyndhM3tSS8FYi7KcYa3F0hkr4FMXB0
With COVID over, what is the rationale for having outside shacks (not sidewalk cafes) when the inside of the restaurant is not full?
If, as part of a larger COVID recovery, a place is busting at the seams and will have to turn away revenue, that is one thing. But 2x capacity when the number of diners is the same makes no sense.
My guess? Few restaurants will pay any incremental $$ to keep these going unless they are already full inside.
Covid is not over. It’s here to stay and actually on the uptick now. Many have resumed full pre-Covid activity (crowds, eating indoors and sadly socializing when sick in public). They feel it’s just a cold. But for many it is not. And despite vaccines, infections and repeat infections occur and is that is far from healthy either. So offering those who want to remain healthy the ability to participate in life and help bolster the economy is a good reason for outdoor, unenclosed dining.
There’s no way anyone can remain healthy by sitting in those enclosed shacks in the curb. That’s absurd thinking.
Look at every one of the most beautiful European cities, and outdoor dining is everywhere in the summer—they know how to enjoy life without pest issues. Before Covid, very few restaurants in the UWS (or in most of Manhattan), had outdoor restaurants in the summer—the lists are online and sparse, with more below 23rd street in Manhattan, but the most in Brooklyn/Queens. Now people can enjoy spring/summer/fall while having a meal with friends. Paris, Rome, Brussels—the energy, beauty, and economic vitality of the restaurant scene there is a draw for everyone, and New Yorkers should strive to bring the same beauty and ambience here. We can do it without increasing the pests, and hopefully this bill achieves that, but rats have been a NY City problem pre-pandemic and aren’t going away unless we pack our garbage in the types of rat-resistant bins that Europe uses.
Comparisons to European outdoor dining are ridiculous. I’ve traveled extensively in Europe and have never seen streetscapes so butchered as we have allowed to happen in NY. What we have is typical of 3rd world countries.
They don’t build sheds in the streets of Europe! They have sidewalk cafes that are designed by architects outside the restaurants-not thrown together with some plywood and nails. Restaurants may have some outdoor tables but nowhere are there sheds sitting in the streets.
We instead have taken over our sidewalks where pedestrians walk while many sheds now sit empty much of the time taking much needed space. We have created a rat explosion as a result of these sheds street sweepers cannot clean the streets properly. Noise proliferates for adjacent apartment dwellers. And traffic is obstructed. And while restaurants are getting the benefit of much free square footage it is at a great cost to the community.
Sorry this is not like Europe at all. Let the communities go back to the role they played in regulating outdoor dining that was usurped by the Mayor and the restaurant lobby and let them create some more real outdoor cafes where environmentally sound without these ugly shacks.
Thank you!! Agreed!!!
Yes, we agree…we should make it more like Europe. That’s my point and that’s what this law strives to do: “under the new design guidelines to be written by the DOT, ‘sidewalk cafes will go back to looking like sidewalk cafes before the pandemic: tables, chairs, umbrellas, planters.’”
Folks are quite dramatically maligning this new legislation, apparently without even reading the article, let alone the legislation (or my comment). The legislation strives for sidewalk “cafes,” like in Europe, not “sheds.” So let’s support the legislation.
Tell me what I don’t understand. I know quite a lot about this issue and am a lifelong UWS resident. And I don’t support the legislation.
“While Rigie asserts that “overall, the future of outdoor dining creates a more livable city,” Leslie Clark isn’t buying it. She’s a Greenwich Village resident who lives adjacent to a restaurant with outdoor seating, and is part of an organization called CueUP NY, a coalition of community groups, block associations, and residents — including some from the UWS — that vehemently opposes the expansion of outdoor dining. She lives in Community Board 2, where she says the number of outdoor cafes has ballooned from 184 before the pandemic to 954 in three years.
Clark claims that since the DOT took over enforcement from the Department of Consumer Affairs three years ago, “there is no or very lax enforcement” of current guidelines. She told WSR on a phone interview that complaints about noise and sidewalk clearance spaces are rarely heeded, and when they are, inspections often bring no results. And now, she says, “the same people who haven’t enforced the law are charged with writing the (new) rules.””
Respectfully, you’re missing the point of the legislation, which is to REMOVE the SHEDS that everyone complains of and replace them with the type of outdoor dining more reminiscent of Europe’s cafes with temporary umbrellas covering tables and chairs that all come in at night. New enforcement mechanisms would require the sheds be taken down. While you complaint that “there is no or very lax enforcement of current guidelines,” that is because the current guidelines allow “sheds,” but this legislation will outlaw “sheds.”
Everyone complains about the “sheds” that popped up since Covid began…you complain about how “the number of outdoor cafes has ballooned from 184 before the pandemic to 954 in three years,” but most folks here agree that the problem with those additional 700 “outdoor cafes” is that they are in the form of “sheds.” SHEDS would be REMOVED under this legislation.
You’re complaining about the way things currently are without recognizing that this legislation would get rid of the problems you complain about. Give it a chance to work.
The thought of sitting in those outdoor huts, knowing that below the flimsy floor is a rat hotel is enough reason to rid the outdoors of them. Considering we have an “anti-rat mayor who hired a “rat Czar to help and protect us, it surprises me that he would allow the sheds to stay at all.
I’m curious if the revenue that the city will expect for these sheds is and will be greater than what parking fees and tickets bring in,
I have never once sat in one of those roadway sidewalk sheds. Not once and I will never, ever do it.
My preference is for TREES. Talk climate change etc., but…… I’d also prefer some WALKING SPACE on sidewalks. Over by Lincoln Center, people have little sidewalk space waiting for buses — but, whatever — let them be splashed by puddles of who knows what. But enjoy your meal.
Good restaurants are extremely busy so they really cant complain that they are getting twice the space they now have for 2 years rent free for the second space.
Now why are there only restaurants in this? Why not mom and pop stores that have no space or exposure. People love to look at flea markets and touch goods same goes for all stores.
Why are they so special and not the beauty parlor or the ice cream or gift shops?
Too many parking spaces taken by these sheds. Too many rats under the sheds. And in the winter they’re just gonna sit there because nobody’s gonna want to be in them because they’re freaking cold. I think it’s a stupid idea. The pandemic is over for all intents and purposes in the sheds should be gone.
WHILE I DO BELIEVE WE CAN BENEFIT FROM OUTDOOR DINING AND THE ECONOMIC BOON IT CREATES, I WANT TO KNOW THE SPECIFICS OF HOW THE CITY WILL ENFORCE CLEANLINESS AS THE RAT POPULATION ON THE STREETS HAS BURGEONED AND BECOME A SIGNIFICANT HEALTH HAZARD.
Strictly enforced rules? Yeah, right, just like traffic and especially all the e-vehicles. Lots of luck with that.
Seems they will be removed for winter so that’s a plus! Small one but a plus n
The bill passed today. The sheds will be required to come down; “roadway dining” will only be permitted seasonally, must be unenclosed (e.g. tables, chairs, and umbrellas – sheds will not be permitted), and will require LPC approval in historic districts. I hate the sheds but this seems like a fairly reasonable compromise to me.
I am going to say this one more time for the cheap seats.
It was one thing to support these sheds when indoor dining was not possible. It was another thing to support them for a while after indoor dining was allowed again, so that owners could recoup some of their losses.
However, it is quite another thing to allow owners to now use public space for profit – particularly with no review process.
Ironically, one of the few things any City agency did well long prior to the pandemic was the way the DCA handled the licensing of outdoor cafes, both enclosed and unenclosed. It allowed local communities, through their Community Boards, to give real input into what got approved. And CBs and the DCA did NOT rubber stamp them.
Too many of the sheds are eyesores, poorly maintained, and attract garbage and vermin. It is time to get rid of them, and have each owner submit plans individually to the DCA,, and for the DCA to use the original approval process, via the local community through their CB, to approve or disapprove a particular shed.
Anything less is a private taking of public land without local review.
Uh oh – please don’t tell me this means they will take up the ENTIRE sidewalk!! Notice many restaurants are slowly taking up more PUBLIC SPACE. Like the old saying goes….”give them an inch and they’ll take a yard”. Even the Nuts Factory on Columbus just placed a number of tables on the sidewalk and for what? Nuts Factory isn’t a dining establishment!
I walk by the Nut Factory every afternoon (a good addition to the neighborhood, BTW). However, all I see at their tables are people eating Zebras takeout. Not exactly a help to the Nut House.
What else are they going to put on our streets??!!!! it’s terrible. As the inside of restaurants remain empty it’s ruining our quality of life. Poor decision
Did anyone ask the Rat “Czar” what she thinks of the idea?
I thoroughly enjoy the outdoor dining spaces. I moved to the UWS during the pandemic. Outdoor seating at restaurants gave me a feeling of relative safety from contagion. I love the way these spaces (many of which are quite attractive) continue to make the streets lively and the neighborhood inviting and friendly. I also like the choice between freezing indoors in AC or relaxing outdoors in the summer air. And vice versa, when necessary, during the winter!
A lot of people in this neighborhood now are like Maxine, they moved to the UWS during the pandemic when prices dropped and the neighborhood became affordable. I say this to point out most of the gentrifiers in neighborhoods like Harlem and Washington Heights and even Inwood are aspiring Upper West Siders. Now that the Bronx is targeted for gentrification, you’re going to see the same thing play out in the Bronx, all the people living in luxury buildings in the South Bronx that are going up will consist of aspiring Upper West Siders.
Maxine,
I have lived here my entire life.
Outdoor-street dining has made the West Side and rest of Manhattan look like a shantytown.
Also you might feel differently if you lived above one.
Exactly. 43 years an UWS here. The sheds have become an embarrassment and an insult to all of us. Anyone who says its “European” clearly need to travel more.
The problem is that American culture is NOT European culture. That’s the BIGGEST impediment. Actually most white people came to America to escape the ills of Europe and that’s the BIGGEST imputed cultural difference here.
Assuming it is accurate, this reader comment on a NYT article is very sobering:
“I was a bartender and waiter in the west village during 2021 to 2022. The dining shed outside of the small restaurant was consistently faced with vermin, syringes, garbage, take away containers, used diapers, etc. You can only imagine what else I discovered while setting up for my shift. I would often find people high on drugs passed out on the bench inside. We often had to contact the NYPD for their removal.
I, along with one fellow colleague were responsible for daily cleanings such as hosing down the area in addition to sanitation. Many of the unsightly sheds nearby weren’t given adequate attention looking awful. They were great, for the most part, especially during the height of the pandemic, but now a majority no longer facilitate a purpose. It is my sincere hope most will demolish theirs in due time given the demands the city council has now implemented.”
The Consulate “Shed” has windows and air-conditioning. It’s essentially an indoor space. Are they going to break that down and re-build it every year? Take a look at the Bodega 88″Shed”, the restaurant has 30 feet of frontage on Columbus Ave, yet, the shed is over 100 feet long! Just two examples of greed. This is not about COVID. This is a land grab!
100% correct! This is very obvious and it’s sickening that they’ve gotten away with it for so long. Arte Cafe was also taking up at least 1/3 of W73rd (between Columbus and Amsterdam) before they had to reduce the size of their shack due to road construction. They had a shack that extended well past their restaurant exterior such that it was in front of at least six (likely more) brownstones on that block which had nothing to do with Arte Cafe (see link below).
Total land grab. These business finally support political candidates and, once the person is elected, they are forever protected. This is exactly what Mayor Adams is doing.
You can see how expansive Arte Cafe’s outdoor shack was here. Scroll to the other side of the street and then move your mouse left and right. It was ridiculously expansive:
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x89c2588bc0e2bd1d%3A0x385f8cecf32b64a9!3m1!7e115!4s%2Fmaps%2Fplace%2Farte%2Bcafe%2Boutdoor%2Bseating%2F%4040.778293%2C-73.9787331%2C3a%2C75y%2C202.81h%2C90t%2Fdata%3D*213m4*211e1*213m2*211slc7joGeQKYQjbeSzcsB75g*212e0*214m2*213m1*211s0x89c2588bc0e2bd1d%3A0x385f8cecf32b64a9%3Fsa%3DX%26ved%3D2ahUKEwjMkpTT0MSAAxXGEFkFHb13BUEQpx96BAhOEAA!5sarte%20cafe%20outdoor%20seating%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e2!2slc7joGeQKYQjbeSzcsB75g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMkpTT0MSAAxXGEFkFHb13BUEQpx96BAh4EAw
Cafe Luxembourg shed is huge, exceeds its frontage and blocks the building entrance at 200 West 70th.
There are several sheds that block buildings with supported housing. Among other things, this is a problem for building residents who need Access a Ride.
Well at least having the roadside structures removed during the winter will get rid of the shacks that have been erected. Some of them look great (such as Santa Fe on 71st) but others are grim and hardly used.
Great idea. The city is now getting paid twice for the sidewalks. Once by us, the taxpayers who thought we therefore could walk freely on them, and by the restaurants who make money on that space we once comfortably walked on.
Get rid of all the sheds!
the sheds are not really “eating outside”. They are kind of ugly IMO, I never opt to sit in them, they remind me of ramshackle cabins where some poor kidnapping victims are imprisoned. If you have to eat outdoors, why not eat somewhere that has umbrellas or tents like Cafe 82? Shout out to that fine diner!!! I do feel for the restaurants, though, who are probably still trying to make up for lost revenue from Covid…I’m not really taking a side; just saying these things are kind of ugly…
For me – my biggest complaint (among many) is trying not to get run over by the wait staff and bus staff.
Maybe its just me but I think this is an emotional issue for many New York residents. They see their communities being taken over without their input or agreement. It’s not rocket science. Sidewalks are for pedestrians to walk on, and streets are for the reasonable flow of traffic in a metropolis. Our building and hospital workers require a car to commute to places where mass transit may not go-and they need to park! The disabled and blind need to access the sidewalks unimpeded by empty shacks. This open dining plan is in no way progressive-it is regressive. It favors the young and healthy and restaurant owners at the expense of everyone else.
It really is time we called the Mayor and City Council to task. We are bearing the brunt of all these poorly considered projects that are wrecking our neighborhoods. Enough. We can show up in masses at the polls and vote them out when they act against the common interests of our neighborhoods.
I would love for the next election to revolve around the issue of Street Dining vs. Free Parking. I don’t think the 20% of people who own cars in the neighborhood are the silent majority many of them seem to think they are.
Josh P,
The legislation applies to the whole city. So there are restaurant shack shantytowns throughout Manhattan while few restaurants in Staten Island have street dining.
BTW there are many workers who must drive in.
They live far away (can’t afford Manhattan) and don’t have easy mass transit. For example, some workers in my building especially the night shift.
Actually quite a few restaurant owners/managers drive in also LOL
The 24% or so of people who own cars in this neighborhood may not be a majority, but most of the 76% or so of people who don’t own cars understand those that do need cars and leave them alone. That majority is not actively pushing or supporting infrastructure changes to spite car drivers or want to push a “ban cars” agenda. The people pushing for open streets, outdoor dining, parking removal aren’t speaking for all people who don’t own cars. Even Citibike is seen by many as a “nice to have” but not a “must have”.
Even if it’s only 24% of people who own cars, there’s also those coming from areas with more limited transit service outside the UWS who deserve access to the UWS. Those people like myself often live in more politically competitive areas.
Josh,
I don’t drive.
I want the street dining gone.
Not interested in having private business use street space.
Not interested in having City favor restaurants over retail
So more bloat, more inspectors, higher taxes, more rats. Just remove the sheds and ban ebikes already.
Could WSR research why Andrew Rigie is permitted to be on CB 7 and also have been active in working directly with the City to develop street shed-“open restaurants “ policy, rules etc?
Starting with the Covid period and continuing.
Please get rid of all the sheds. They are so unhygienic.
This city is going the way of San Francisco, as it continuously finds ways to alienate law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. The sheds are an absolute eyesore, not much more than plywood+plexiglass shacks. Havens to rodents, addicts, and filth.
Perfect. Eliminate sidewalks altogether. Build even more bike lanes. Unleash ever more powerful electric conveyances. And while we’re at it, why not just guillotine pedestrians in the public square.
Between the sheds, the unlicensed scooters, weed smoke everywhere, rats, and random assaults, I would say it’s like a third world country. Frankly it’s worse, than some of them.