Lawmaker Proposes Permanent Outdoor Dining Expansion

NEW YORK, NY — New York City has transformed its streets and sidewalks this summer to allow restaurants limited to outdoor service the freedom to spread out and serve customers during the city's recovery from its devastating coronavirus outbreak. This week, one local lawmaker proposed extending the outdoor dining reforms permanently.

City Councilmember Kieth Powers released a comprehensive plan to guide New York City's restaurant industry through the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic that proposes policies such as an outdoor dining extension, extending New York's eviction moratorium for businesses, providing rent relief and extending emergency rules that allow restaurants to serve to-go alcoholic beverages and cap third-party delivery fees. Powers' plan, called "Open for Business: Saving our Small Businesses Post-COVID" also calls on the city to extend these emergency policies to street vendors.

"Small businesses are the lifeblood of New York City, and if we want them to survive in a post COVID city, we need to take action... This moment calls for innovative solutions and for a collaborative effort that includes the voices of small business owners across a wide range of industries. New York City will be different post-COVID—and we must do all we can to maintain the vibrancy of our communities and local economy by supporting our small businesses in a post-COVID world," Powers' plan reads.

New York City restaurants were limited to takeout and delivery in mid-March to curb the spread of coronavirus as the height of the city's outbreak of the deadly virus. When the city entered "phase two" of its economic recovery, restaurants were allowed to serve diners outdoors. A planned resumption of indoor dining was postponed due to safety fears after indoor restaurants and bars became hotspots for virus infections in other states.

The city enacted an emergency outdoor dining initiative this summer that allows restaurants to serve customers in sidewalks, parking lanes, newly-opened streets and other spaces, rather than the usual months-long process of getting a sidewalk café permit. The program is set to expire in September with options to extend it until December.

"Outdoor dining has brought new life to the city. It has allowed New Yorkers to enjoy their favorite establishments and socialize in a safe and healthy manner. It has also provided an essential way to keep our favorite restaurants, bars, and cafés in business. New York should learn lessons from this moment and extend outdoor dining permanently," Powers' plan reads.

More than 9,000 bars and restaurants are participating in the city's outdoor dining initiative.

Powers' district spans half of the Upper East Side, the central and eastern portions of Midtown Manhattan, Murray Hill and the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village developments.