By Clara Grudberg
If local leaders have their way, an expanded version of al fresco dining may be coming to the Upper West Side.
After discussion and debate, the Business and Consumer Issues and Steering Committees of local Community Board 7 unanimously passed a resolution calling for creative use of open spaces by local restaurants and small businesses in a joint virtual meeting on Wednesday.
The resolution outlines some practical concerns that must be considered for businesses’ expansions into sidewalks or other open spaces. A potential obstacle are dedicated bus and truck routes on commercial streets like Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, which would encumber any commercial takeover of the roadspace.
Community Board 7 Chair Mark Diller highlighted that the provisions of the resolution would be temporary, meant only to aid businesses during the economic consequences brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Whatever it is that we recommend tonight will be temporary,” Diller said during the meeting. “Not temporary like one night, but temporary in the sense that it is intended to address the period of time in which the governor and the mayor tell us that restaurants and small businesses and other locations must use reduced capacity once they start to reopen their facilities, their shops, their restaurants.”
The resolution called for protocols to establish safety and cleanliness measures, as well as preservation of police operations and a quiet neighborhood atmosphere. Concerns about increased traffic and reckless driving were highlighted by Doug Kleiman, Vice Chair of Community Board 7, who called for proper signage designating open spaces for pedestrian use.
Board Member Susan Schwartz echoed Kleiman’s concerns, especially in relation to cyclists.
“I think it’s fantastic to give the restaurants more space to spread out, so people wouldn’t have to go into the facilities, but already it’s sort of a jungle out there, the delivery bikers and regular bikers are going every different direction,” Schwartz said. “If we’re going to start closing off different sections of the roadway, I think we really need to make sure we’ve got some good controls on this so that everyone stays safe.”
Although safety is important, the process for expanding into available open space should not be made overly difficult for businesses trying to get by despite the pandemic, said board member Richard Robbins.
“If we start setting up processes that are too complicated, it’ll take away from restaurants being able to do this expeditiously, which is most important,” Robbins said during the meeting. “I think we want broad strokes, and I think we want to think about how to set this up so things can happen really quickly, so we don’t get in the way, so agencies don’t get in the way.”
The committees also called for the Mayor’s office to appoint a “lead agency and point person” to take charge and coordinate rules for any business open space expansions. The provision was added to the resolution after board member Richard Asche pointed out the possibility that excessive bureaucratic minutiae could slow down the approval of expansions.
“The fear is with so many agencies involved it’s too easy to pass the buck and too easy to get bogged down somewhere,” Asche said during the meeting. “I’d like to propose an additional whereas, that the mayor appoint a city official and sufficient staff to coordinate and expedite approvals where necessary of city and state departments and agencies, and to liaise with affected community boards and other interested parties.”
Meeting attendees also heard from representatives of the Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue and Columbus-Amsterdam Business Improvement Districts to gather information in order to aid planning efforts. Monica Blum, President of Lincoln Square BID, reported that only about 20% of businesses that she oversees are open for sidewalk delivery. She also added that she will be contacting Lincoln Center with a request for them to open their plaza for restaurant use.
The resolution will be brought forward for a full board vote at a June 2 meeting. You can register for the meeting at this link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/2815905275131/WN_qGIJxHwRTMCjXgqjOuNt1w
Photo via flickr.
Sounds like forward and proactive thinking for businesses to open and survive in these critical times. Refreshing.
Without restaurants and stores the UWS will be a ghost town for a long time to come.
Allow them 30% surcharge and 20% minimum for service.
If the restaurateurs can arrange for deliveries by noon, then set up for lunch and evening meals? The truck issue is solved. One lane on both sides of Columbus and Amsterdam could be used (with bike riders moving to the street), and speed limits reduced.
But the wrong way riding has to end.
Oh, commercial streets only, and everything goes inside after closing.
You can’t schedule all deliveries, and restaurants aren’t the only ones getting deliveries ,Fresh Direct,Fedex,UPS deliver to everyone, all day and evening.
Lunch and evening meals? Local restaurants are open all day not just for two hour mealtimes , and there’s set up and take down time, too. It’s not reasonable to close the avenues from 11-9 or 10. And what about other businesses. It’s not just restaurants that are suffering. Do the avenues become one giant sidewalk sale or street fair all day, indefinitely?
There are two lanes for parking on both avenues. Remove those and create a few loading zones in those spaces and then the problem is solved. Two travel lanes are plenty for the current traffic.
Retail stores and other businesses can take advantage of sidewalks for selling product and increased pedestrian volume. Not like a street fair, since it’d only be partially closing avenues.
Just close a lane on each side, not the whole street so deliveries can be made to all. Make one lane for deliveries and 2 for vehicle traffic.
Both avenues already lost driving lanes to bike lanes. That’s a good thing. But the math doesn’t work. If there are only 3 driving lanes, how do you have two lanes for restaurant seating and three lanes for traffic?. And how do you set up barriers so that pedestrians (or the restaurant goers, whoever is in the traffic lanes) are safe from cars and trucks. I too want my local stores and restaurants to overcome this, but just doesn’t add up
Not exactly thinking of solutions here. It’s not that hard to come up with a good plan instead of criticizing every idea. If you want the restaurants and stores to survive, add to the conversation, don’t find reasons why it cannot work.
How to make it work. Not how not to make it work. Why such a naysayer? No vehicles these days on any streets. So. What’s the risk? I’m sure the math is workable in some iteration if creative minds want to make it work. Yikes! Do you want to live in a deserted neighborhood?
Susan Schwartz has probably never biked on the UWS. I’ve been biking non-stop for the past 2 months and there’s a lot less delivery drivers on the road than any other spring. Definitely not a “jungle”.
Opening the plaza of Lincoln Center is a marvelous idea!
There are so few cars now that closing a couple of lanes for outside dining will leave plenty of room for delivery trucks and whatever light vehicle traffic there is. Not a problem until the City goes back to full operation.
It’s more important to have businesses, jobs, income come back to the neighborhood than petty nit-picking any solutions apart.
Opening the plaza at Lincoln Center with food trucks are whatever would be amazing
Food trucks would not help local business people who have considerable fixed costs.
Why don’t they start off Friday night through Sunday and see how that goes . That time there is minimum traffic and peak dining.
Can always add more ( or less ) depending on how it works
Great start!
Temporary? *You cannot be serious.* This virus is not going anywhere and will be with us for many months – perhaps even years.
What about restaurants spreading out impinging on pedestrians who are trying to say 6 feet apart?
Have you not read the proposal? The idea is just that, to have more room for pedestrians while allowing restaurants and stores to open outside for social distancing as well.
Why are there so many people not wanting the UWS to be viable anymore? If restaurants and small businesses fail, why live here at all? It’ll be a dystopian landscape which it is kind of getting close to now.
Once the additional homeless shelters and SRO’s keep going in, like they are today at the Belnord Hotel on 87th street, no one will want to eat out anywhere. Things are getting dirtier and dirtier but no one seems to care, the least of all our community leaders. I wish it was temporary to help during Covid-19 but I doubt it. I guess we’ll have to wait and see unless people in this neighborhood start to speak up.
Let the hard working owners and employees make a dime and stop over analyzing. All of these ridiculous and onerous regulations are killing small businesses. Have any electeds ever stayed up all night worrying about how to make payroll? Clearly no one in City Council or City Hall has ever grappled with this issue or has a clue what it means to worry about tomorrow. Nope – hazard pay is the solution per Speaker Corey Johnson another wonderful way to tax the evil business owner.
Until they clean up the streets, literally, this won’t work. Far too many homeless out and about. Just the other day, a homeless person, who really did seem to be on drugs and looked like a meth head, followed me down the street no matter which way I walked. It was unsettling.
Yes outdoor cafes are lovely in beautiful old European cities and towns, situated in squares by old low rise buildings with little density.
Not seeing how expansion would work in the grid of overdeveloped Manhattan?
Depending on location seems like some restaurants would benefit with nearby outdoor space while others would not be able – which does not seem fair.
Side street restaurants with narrow bumpy sidewalks?
Restaurants that already have outdoor cafe space?
Chains and fast food places like Dunkin Donuts and Sweetgreen could expand their outdoor seating too?
More outdoor drinking?
How would this account for buses and bus stops? bike lanes? Garbage trucks? Truck delivery for restaurants and stores?
Does this not essentially give priority to restaurants as opposed to stores which mostly cannot safely leave items on the sidewalk/street?
Potential impact on rat problem?
Instead, I’d prefer big real estate institute significant rent reductions for all independent and small stores and restaurants (Yes I know this will never happen)
Other considerations?:
Trash put out on curb for pickup.
Curbside dog pee and poop
Inside seating (lower rents) a bit too soon. Outdoor seating with lane closures the best way to get businesses opened during this coming summer so they can survive until the Fall. Let’s think of ways to make this happen!
Don’t much care about the restaurant seating part but I love the street closing part. Foot traffic only (i.e., no cars OR bikes).
too soon
Hopefully, by sharing the burden between 1) lane closings and perhaps limited pedestrian streets 2) giving up parking spaces 3) expanded outdoor dining 4) new food truck zones… then more restaurants can survive.
One more thought: what if restaurants were able to construct double decker outdoor seating to help make up for social distancing? The upper level wouldn’t be ADA-accessible and waiters would have to climb stairs, but might not be any worse than scaffolding. In fact, come to think of it, instead of scaffolding, maybe scaffolding could be adapted to accommodate dining tables.
Would love to hear comments from the most opinionated neighborhood in the world.
Will there be a 6 foot no mans land from the outside table to pedestrian walk way dinners will not have mask on
So. Until there is a vaccine, no restaurants can ever open?
They are opening in other states 50% Capacity and yes there needs to be 6 feet from outside table same rules wear a mask and keep 6 feet apart. Get rid of the 6 feet then no mask
So. If other states are doing it, there is a solution. Yay!
Why do the pols act like restaurants are the only small business in NYC? To be fair every small business that is hampered by capacity should be allowed to operate in public space like this until they come up with a long-term solution.
A month ago I sent a plan to a few people for the closing of Amsterdam between 79th and 86th Streets.
What’s shocking to me is that this is only being discussed now, not 6 weeks ago.
The plan can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p–StsZvd2txnCF578pT7LuFSm0Md7IF/view?usp=sharing
Feel free to comment on the pdf itself.
76 tol75 on Columbus..so many empty store fronts. all of duane reade and chase bank..one restaurant on that block and one across the sreet could set up tables.maybe even patsys..lots of room.