Outdoor Dining Is Now Permanent In NYC

NEW YORK CITY — Outdoor dining is permanently on the menu in New York City, assuming legislation gets Mayor Eric Adams's signature.

City Council members overwhelmingly passed a long-awaited bill Thursday that preserves restaurants' pandemic-era ability to serve diners outdoors, albeit with a significant caveat that dining setups on the city's streets will only be allowed eight months a year.

But Council Member Marjorie Velazquez, who spearheaded the bill, framed it as an overall expansion and improvement of the city's outdoor dining program that developed shortly after the coronavirus pandemic's darkest days.

"It is critical that we establish a permanent program that will support small businesses, create jobs and generate tax revenue for our city," she said. "It is also critical that we do this in a way that is orderly, consistent and respectful.

"This bill does just that."

Many advocates and City Council members, however, wanted more from the bill even as they ultimately supported its passage.

Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans, bemoaned that the bill only allowed for eight months of outdoor dining on the city's roadways.

She argued that concerns over removing sheds for road work could have been addressed. Many complaints about the roadway sheds —such as they're in cheap or in bad repair — come from restaurant owners' unwillingness to invest in what has till now been a temporary program, she said.

But she said making the program permanent, with year-round sidewalk outdoor dining, still will be invigorating for the city's public spaces.

"As we like to say, we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good," she said.

"The whole outdoor dining universe will be better with a permanent program."

Open Plans will continue to push for year-round roadway outdoor dining through legislation, Lind said.

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York Hospitality Alliance, praised the bill.

"The new law will cut the red tape and fees for restaurants to participate when compared to the overly restrictive pre-pandemic sidewalk café licenses, which excluded so many restaurants throughout the five boroughs from offering al fresco dining," he said in a statement.

"We look forward to Mayor Adams’ signing this legislation into law and working with the Department of Transportation on the design guidelines and additional details to address issues that are important to restaurants and the communities they serve."