By Robert Grandt, Michael Kenna, David Zelman, and Leslie Clark
Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy (CUEUP)
When temporary outdoor dining started in June of 2020, just about everyone supported it. Indoor dining wasn’t allowed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants could get up and running again. And their residential neighbors were happy to see local eateries back in business — with the understanding, as per the program’s title, that this use of public property would be “temporary.”
So, let’s start right there on the “what’s wrong” list. In just three months, Mayor di Blasio, the City Council, and lobbyists from the Hospitality Alliance redefined “temporary” as permanent. And let’s be painfully clear here: permanent = forever.
Changing the landscape of every street and every sidewalk in a great city like New York forever ought to involve a significant public discussion. This one didn’t. When community boards were asked their opinion, a majority of those who answered said they didn’t want this vast change.* Those community boards were then ignored by the same pols who appointed their members.
Public property should, and by law does, belong to the public. But for two-and-a-half years, that public property has been given for free to one private industry for their private profit.
So, let’s mention another implication of this politically sanctioned, restaurant land grab: street sweeping has been long interrupted on streets with sheds. Some areas have not been touched by a broom for two-and-a- half years. Yes. It stinks.
And let’s mention that the restaurant industry – many with multiple locations — has received over $5 billion in federal aid in New York City alone.** Did their neighboring businesses – stationery stores, toy stores, dry cleaners – get anything like that kind of taxpayer windfall? They did not.
What did those neighboring businesses get instead? Blocked access to their front doors, blocked signs so their customers can’t find them, a reduction in parking so their customers can’t get to their stores, and sidewalks narrowed to single-file pedestrian paths. So those neighboring businesses lost and are still losing business and sales and revenue. Yes, that stinks too.
In a city that also lost revenue during the pandemic, the public coffers are running dangerously low. So, while booming restaurants are turning out more trash, that trash isn’t being picked up. More stink.
Put restaurants outside on the street and they behave the way they do inside: they blast music at their customers who are often drunk – and shouting over each other. That alcohol-fueled din of voice-and-music is now “shared” by the residents who live next to those restaurants. So outdoor dining is a seven-night-a-week street party.
But let’s be fair. There is one constituency that has found a true “lifeline” in this “universally popular” program: rats. While the industry lobbyists and their politician friends invent every explanation they can for the explosion in rats, they ignore the one explanation staring them in the face: the abundant rat snacks dropping from outdoor tables and cozy rodent breeding grounds below. Making this program permanent stinks for everyone but the rats, the restaurateurs, and the politicians pandering to them.
And your City Council Member is about to pass a bill making all of this permanent without a public hearing – over the objection of more than 40 New York City community leaders. The stench is overpowering. It’s time to clean up this mess.
*These data are publicly available on the Zoning Application Portal maintained by the New York City Department of City Planning: https://zap.planning.nyc.gov/projects/2021Y0291.
**Restaurants across NYC’s five boroughs received $5.88 billion in federal funding (a combined $2.76 billion dollars in Restaurant Revitalization Funds and $3.12 billion dollars in Paycheck Protection Program funding.)
For more information, contact cueup.ny@gmail.com
We need to get rid of the vast majority of these shacks. They have no regulations, are not up to code in any way. They are a safety hazard and the rats love them. Very few exceptions should exist and those that do should have to pay taxes on them. Give that space back to the people!
Give that space back to the people*!
*the less than 1/3 of the people in the neighborhood who own a car.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2022/07/06/the-bumpy-road-to-electric-vehicle-ownership-on-the-upper-west-side
That’s still a lot of people!
Has zero to do with cars. Restaurant sheds do not equal less cars. They equal more traffic jams, rats, noise, slower emergency response, less accessibility, and less street cleaning.
I agree – the shacks that don’t comply with the regulations (once they are finalized) should be removed and replaced with public seating or another amenity. Under no circumstances should they be returned to private motor vehicle storage.
It’s public motor vehicle storage. Private would mean they own it and can park permanently. Most of these are public metered spots, so they actually used to earn money that gets redistributed for vital city services.
Pre-pandemic, sidewalk cafes were permitted and paid a surcharge to the city. The pandemic sheds/sidewalk cafe expansions require no payment and are effectively a giveaway of public space to private businesses. There are many streets in the area where pedestrians are left with 2-3 feet of actual space while the shed/chairs/bubbles occupy most of the sidewalk. Cafe du Soleil is by far the worst offender.
I agree. There is far too little sidewalk space for pedestrians in the most pedestrian-heavy city in the country.
The solution is clear: take out lanes of traffic, get rid of street parking except for delivery vehicles, and widen the sidewalks.
Sorry. I am agreement with the basic idea. But what are you going to do with the extra space without the cars? 14th St is a big waste of space, concrete stretching from one side of the city to the other, with only buses running. Not sure what has been accomplished.
That’s not going to happen without much better mass transit.
Manhattan has the best mass transit in the world. There is nowhere in Manhattan where a car is more efficient than mass transit. Micro mobility vehicles are the only vehicles more efficient (time wise) than mass transit in Manhattan. The outer boroughs not so much, but the effect on the outer boroughs is obviously also less pronounced.
Transit might work for getting around WITHIN Manhattan, but Manhattan isn’t the center of the universe. There’s a whole other part of our metro area outside Manhattan and no one wants to improve transportation in good faith.
Why should the Upper West Side reduce its quality of life because those areas refuse to improve their transporation?
It’s not those areas fault. They have to work with YOUR elected officials to get things done. You know what would really reduce quality of life on the UWS, building enough housing so that everyone that wants to live on the UWS can do so affordably. UWS residents will then whine about the loss of historic districts and destruction of brownstones to build housing.
YOUR elected officials, you mean.
If you want to throw shade at “outsiders” I dare Gale Brewer to support a rezoning of the UWS that would build more housing. Why doesn’t Gale put her name name to rolling back historic districts on the UWS. Aaron Carr of housing rights initiative has said on Twitter that historic district landmarking is bad and exclusionary. If UWS residents want to play that game, they deserve an upzoning which might cost them their historic districts.
The authors of this piece deliberately leave out what would become of this public space once outdoor dining was rolled back – more parking spaces. For all their talk about returning space to the people and treating everyone equally, they want even more public space dedicated for the benefit of the minority of people who own cars.
That’s why 84% (!) of Manhattan residents support using street space for outdoor dining (https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2020_cms_covid_october_summary_report.pdf).
That extra space does not have to be reserved for parking. It could be zebra-striped and be available for local communities. What is should not be used for is the restaurant delivery guys with their motorized bicycles scaring everyone… but, that’s another discussion.
That’s fine then make these restaurants PAY the city for the space! Just because you don’t have a car doesn’t mean a private company gets a freebee!!
Josh – BTW numerous restaurant owners drive and park near their restaurants. Some even block off area by the sheds.
Josh –
1) the survey you mention is from 2020 during Covid, had limited reach/only some knew about it, and anyone could respond and multiple times.
2) the City has done nothing for retail, small stores. Small stores are facing high rent; theft; e-commerce completion. Completely unfair for restaurants to get free space
1) It was conducted in 2020 but none of the rest of that is true – it was a survey conducted by city. It was not open to everyone and people could not respond multiple times. It’s in the link.
2) If you are concerned about fairness, why focus on tearing down restaurants instead of building up opportunities for other small businesses? Give them more street space!
That’s all well and good, but right now we need to get these restaurants off the streets and go back to what the city streets were pre-Covid. Then you can work at changing the use for parking which it has been for decades. But for now, just get these damn foodies off the sidewalks.
The war on parking spots while MTA is trying to cut service between the outer boros and Manhattan, while transit between the suburbs and NYC isn’t getting better shows that the end game here is turning the UWS and the rest of Manhattan into a defacto gated community.
A minority of UWS residents might own cars, but there are those who live outside the UWS and drive here for work or for other business. Public transit isn’t for everybody and let’s face it MTA is trying to cut service in the outer boros despite getting congestion pricing passed. Try commuting from Rockland or Orange County to the UWS or Bergen County where there’s limited NJT rail service. Multiple transfers aren’t exactly great. Street parking is a safety valve against bad transit policy or to provide service MTA cannot or will not provide. Let’s also face this, what is NJ getting from congestion pricing? We are their downtown.
I’m sure commuting to the UWS from Bergen County is very annoying. That’s why I live here instead of there. I personally think that we shouldn’t lower the quality of life in the neighborhood by turning ourselves into a parking lot for people who don’t live or pay taxes here.
Well people from outside NYC do pay taxes here, they own businesses here, they also pay MTA taxes as well in certain circumstances. Lowering the quality of life? I think street parking is what helps preserve the character of the UWS. If we had to build enough housing on the UWS for everyone that wanted to live on the UWS, we would probably lose our historic districts. Look at how much opposition the Soho rezoning had last year over concerns about the character of the community. Do UWS residents want to give up their historic districts to accommodate the need for more housing on the UWS? I think not and aside from Sara Lind and a few others, I think people would riot on the UWS.
Interesting link!
But 84% for temporary outdoor dining in 2020. Authors point is that public opinion toward use of outdoor space has changed a lot since then.
84%, wow. I would have thought it’s 100%. I don’t know a single soul who doesn’t like sitting in a nice cafe in a pedestrian plaza in Rome or Paris. You think they asked them that question, or if they like sitting in ramshackle cardboard box next to a 18-wheeler, while rats are scurrying through their feet?
And since it’d be so easy with such overwhelming majority, go through the proper processes and convert streets to sidewalks/plazas for all of us to enjoy. Don’t BS us with the nonsense car argument in order to permanently endorse illegal structures that haven’t undergone ANY type of permitting process.
See UWS Resident’s point below, that the City can make money if the parking spaces are restored and metered.
The city makes more money from the taxes off the restaurant meals than they do from parking meters.
But the restaurants will still be serving meals indoors or on authorized sidewalk tables. How much will eliminating the sheds diminish city tax revenue? I would guess that the net of restaurant taxes paid won’t decrease much if the sheds don’t remain.
More seating -> more diners -> more checks -> more revenue. This is not exactly multivariable calculus.
I don’t think the table turnover is enough to support that argument. Given the difficulty of restaurants finding workers, the service is much slower than pre-sheds. Also, the increased revenue is probably marginal since many diners opt for the outdoor seating and the inside seats are mostly empty. That’s in the warmer months; in the colder months, no one eats outside so no higher revenue is gained.
I’m not convinced that eliminating the sheds will significantly dent restaurant receipts. At this point, many sheds are mostly empty of diners in many parts of town, or there aren’t enough people dining in them that those numbers couldn’t be accommodated at indoor or patio tables.
Let’s assume the city is subsidizing “car storage”, the city wants to remove parking spaces AND cut bus service in the outer boros they are fully responsible for paying for. But Manhattanites are all about themselves and don’t care what happens to the outer boros and the suburbs. Let’s face it, Manhattanites didn’t even want express bus service between the outer boros and Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s when subway crime was much higher than it is today. Parking facilitates commerce and parking provides transit that our elected officials and government agencies are unable to or are unwilling to provide.
The sheds are dangerous and have made the rat population and garbage out of control.
AND they’re really ugly! As is all the scaffolding (sheds!? 0n every block!
Has anyone succeeded in emailing Council Member Sean Abreu, District 7? The email link on his Council website doesn’t seem to work.
SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!!
Why is WSR allowing these paid political op-eds? What happened to independent journalism?
This is laughable. West Rag clearly states sponsored and leaves comments open for healthy debate.
Streetsblog on the other hand is literally propaganda for Trans Alt and Open Plans pretending to be journalism.
Streetsblog is funded by real estate tech millionaire who also funds the lobbying group Open Plans —who with Trans Alt are pushing permanent outdoor dining down our throats without an environmental impact study or consideration of people’s actual lived experiences.
Are the authors calling for an environmental impact study of returning this street space to parking? What do you think that would show?
I wonder if “Andrea” would be against Open Plans, Open New York or Transportation Alternatives having paid political op-eds on WSR?
The WSR does permit political ads and articles that are clearly marke “sponsored”. The Rag does not take a position on these issues, but the comment section is available for opposing positions and hopefully a meaningful dialogue.
In recent weeks, I have observed that many of the makeshift outdoor dining structures in the Upper West Side are not being utilized and serve as storage areas for restaurants. Despite this, the restaurant industry has convinced city officials that their businesses would fail without these makeshift structures on public streets. Meanwhile, organizations like the Hospitality Alliance exaggerate the number of jobs saved by these structures without providing adequate evidence.
As residents of the Upper West Side, we are particularly disturbed by the presence of these structures in our historic neighborhood. The Landmark Preservation Committee appears to have no issue with these structures being placed in front of beautiful 19th century buildings, and various city laws and regulations have been disregarded in order to allow restaurants to expand their seating and increase profits. This has resulted in our neighborhood being blighted by these makeshift structures.
Furthermore, it is not fair that restaurants are given free street space, while other types of businesses who have also been impacted by the pandemic do not receive similar accommodations. Call city hall, Gail brewer, Linda B. Rosenthal and see why these businesses are being given so much.
Agreed. While I love the Plant Shed on 95th, they have a massive empty shed now which they only use for storage (seating has moved inside). This block of Amsterdam is a nightmare due to the congestion caused by their occupation of that lane. How is this allowed???
If you find the dining sheds to be ugly or ahistorical, do you think replacing them with a parking lot will be more beautiful and fitting with the historical character of the neighborhood?
And if it’s not fair that other businesses don’t get the same benefit, why focus on hurting the restaurants instead of lobbying to give every local business access to the curb space in front of their building? I would love to see what some of our local small businesses could do with more outdoor space!
The UWS isn’t the Manhattan CBD and if you’re commuting to work here, it can be easier to drive. How much more housing do you want to build so that everyone who wants to be a part of the uws can be able to do so affordably? During covid, there were people from other parts of Manhattan (uptown/the east side/even from midtown), other parts of NYC, as well as the suburbs that flooded the UWS looking for apartments because they could finally afford to live here. Given that the real estate market is more expensive than pre-covid on the UWS, you’d have to build so much housing that you’d have to get rid of the historical districts that give the UWS the very character that attracts people here in the first place.
In recent weeks it has been December and January. The outdoor structures do not get as much use this time of year as more temperate times of year.
All the more reason they are a bad idea. Restaurants get free space in the warm weather free storage in the colder times.
So a public resource needs to be used 100% efficiently for the use to be worthwhile. Lower usage in off months is not acceptable. And it’s impossible that the pandemic will worsen again and people will start flocking to outdoor dining even in intemperate weather. Got it.
Meanwhile, the typical NYC curbside-parked car is actually being used to get somewhere maybe 5% of its lifetime. The rest of the time it’s just sitting there taking up space.
Sure there are some people who leave their cars in parking spaces for days at a time, but that’s not everyone. There are MANY reverse commuters, there are MANY who commute to work on the UWS. The MTA and NJ Transit don’t have the ability and don’t want to meet everyone’s needs. Look at how MTA got congestion pricing, but is trying to cut service. The reality is that the UWS will never fully be a “15 minute city” where everyone can work, live and have their whole lives on the UWS.
Even the commuters and the reverse commuters, if you look at the minutes per day the car is actually in motion versus just sitting, parked, stationary, it’s shockingly inefficient.
True of private cars almost everywhere, but it’s an especially bad fit to the decisions around how to use street space in NYC.
And on the UWS the number of people who keep the car around just for weekend trips, etc., pushes the utilization down even further!
The reality is that Manhattan will always have a lot of demand and our transit isn’t improving even with congestion pricing. When there’s a rezoning that comes for UWS historic districts because people are fed up with commuting because of how bad it is, then more UWS residents will see what posters like UWS commuter are saying.
Hear, hear. The shacks are an abomination. Time to move on.
Taxes are going up unnecessarily. Get rid of the outdoor sheds; open up the streets for parking; and collect the lost revenue on ‘expired meters.’ The sheds are NOT creating revenue for the city and are public property!
Eh. I think cars are more of a blight. Get rid of the worst sheds and turn all street parking into meter or permit only. Honestly it is bizarre that we designate so much space for free parking.
Permits, especially those which restrict parking to residents only, will be an urbanist wet dream. This will play right into the hands of groups like Open New York because then the argument will be that the UWS is a “gated community” which excludes others from accessing the UWS. Sara Lind called Soho a gated community in her argument supporting a rezoning of the neighborhood.
Most of them look like shacks from a third world country. They are breeding grounds for rats. Makes snow removal more difficult. Makes crossing the street more dangerous, you can’t see bicycles coming on De Blasio’s green highway of death.
I could not agree more. These shed spaces belong to the public. Subsidizing the restaurant industry post-pandemic is poor public policy. These spaces could be available for car traffic, passenger vehicle parking, unloading zones for businesses, bike lanes or trees. We need to come together as a city and decide what the best use of this space is. And don’t get me started on delivery e-bikes. We get terrorized so restaurants can expand their delivery reach. But if there all doing it, it cancels the benefit out. The only losers are the citizens of the city. Our quality of life is terrible now.
Thank you for this article. I’ve just sent it to Gale Brewer with a request to NOT make these sheds permanent. Instead, please tear them down!
Patrons of the outdoor sheds routinely drop their garbage on the street floors of local sheds resulting in stench (admittedly worse in warm weather) along with rat feasts.
Ever since ‘outdoor dining’ took over the UWS, we’ve had almost daily rat sightings as they scurry to and fro.
UWS restaurants have rebounded and are no longer lacking for customers. There is no reason to keep the sheds and, as this article points out, many reasons to remove them.
I love the outside restaurants! Many of them are really festive and really energize the area, like Nice Matin and Playa Bettys and many more. Yes, it’s winter and yes, fewer people are eating outside. Some of the sheds are looking pretty sad and need either some attention or taken down. But certainly not ALL of them! And I disagree about restaurants being back to where they were pre-Covid. It’s a really tough business to survive and I’m not sure it has ever really recovered from TWO years of really less than usual patronage. And the cafe surcharge previously charged pre-covid to allow restaurants tables outside was less than equitable to many smaller restaurants that could have really used the extra tables outside. Surely there is a happy medium to preserve all the good that many of these outside eating places have created? Let’s not throw out everything when so much good has been done by having them there and still does in many instances.
Yes, it’s much better to take away dining structures and return them to what they were before: free parking for car owners.
“Public property should, and by law does, belong to the public. But for two-and-a-half years, that public property has been given for free to one private industry for their private profit.”
So outdoor dining is a giveaway to an industry, but returning the streets to private car owners isn’t also a giveaway to a certain segment of the city?
Let’s be fair (and honest), the people whining about this just want their parking back.
Oh, please!
Most of the sheds are on commercial avenues: Columbus, Amsterdam, and Broadway. These are METERED avenues. There was, has not been, is, and will not be the devil of your worst nightmare: “free parking for car owners.”
You must be seeing something we all don’t see. Most restaurants and sheds are on avenues and not side streets. There is no free parking.
This issue has nothing to do with free parking.
It has all to do with space that is being given for free to private industry. This private industry is not utilizing these spaces throughout the year and most have skirted their obligations to maintain these sheds.
Why is NYC directly subsidizing one industry????
Hypocrisy Detector:
Lifelong authentic New Yorker/West Sider here – I don’t even know how to drive.
Use subway bus or walk.
My family and I hate the restaurant shacks – the restaurant shacks should be removed.
I don’t care about parking space – not my issue.
Unbelievable that the bicycle lobby is holding restaurant shack elimination hostage due to parking spots.
The bicycle lobby is holding restaurant shack elimination hostage due to parking spots? Wow. Just wow.
Cyclists HATE those shacks fwiw. They obscure visibility and put tons of people directly in traffic
They aren’t free parking!!!. They are a revenue source for the city!!! What do you think those meters are for!!!!!
Except that most side streets don’t have parking meters, hence the argument that people keep making about “free parking” or “free car storage”. In my opinion, the problem here is the same we are seeing in many other aspects of life. There are often more than 1 side to a discussion but, here, like in many other instances the willingness to compromise or come to a middle ground is of no interest. It’s either “take down the sheds and give us our parking back” or “you live in NYC, you shouldn’t have a car anyway”.
Maybe once people feel like working together, we can come up with workable solutions.
Free parking is a public good, its to provide transportation that would be difficult to provide otherwise or that transit agencies simply don’t want to provide. It’s to accommodate disabilities, its to allow people to live elsewhere because let’s face it, we will lose parking/lose transit service before we get enough housing so that everyone who wants to live on the UWS can afford to do so. The UWS losing historic districts will drive UWS residents into a tizzy.
There is seldom any reason to be driving in Manhattan. This is the one area of the entire country where you don’t need a car. You want to live elsewhere? Take a train in.
Not to mention, driving is hardly a public good, more like a mode of selfishness with most of the external costs forced onto taxpayers regardless of whether or not they even own cars and even a five second google search would lead you to dozens of studies that say precisely that.
I live here (it sounds like you don’t), and I can assure you, I am not weeping about there being less free parking and I certainly don’t think losing such parking is in any way on par with “losing historic districts.”
Losing parking is on par with losing historic districts because people who have tough commutes but have significant interests here will eventually get fed up and consider moving here, but it’s too expensive to do so. The amount of housing you’d have to build so that everyone who wants to be on the UWS can afford to do so will lead to rezoning that cost us the historic districts. You’d be surprised at the amount of people from Harlem, Washington heights, Brooklyn, queens, Long Island, Lower East Side, midtown, the UES that all flooded the UWS due to covid pricing despite all the negative press coverage the homeless shelters were getting. All because people who wanted to live on the UWS can finally afford to do so.
Try moving your child to and from college without a car. Try moving furniture and boxes to or from a rented storage unit without a car. Try shopping at Costco and bringing home your purchases without a car. Try transporting an elderly or disabled relative to a location unserved by mass transit without a car. Try visiting ANYONE in a location unserved by mass transit without a car. Try transporting equipment as a tradesman without a car. Try having to get around the metro area after midnight without a car.
There is literally not enough room on the UWS for everyone to have a car. You can visualize this for yourself by looking at how many cars can park in front of a building and mentally comparing it to how many people live in that building. The majority of people on the UWS will never have a car. There just isn’t enough space. We shouldn’t give almost 100% of our curb space to what will always be a minority of the people who live here.
On top of that, the Upper West Side is one of the few neighborhoods in the country where you don’t need a car. If you do need a car there are tons of other neighborhoods and suburbs where you can enjoy plentiful parking. The Upper West Side and a handful of other Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhood are special and removing dining sheds to cram in a few more parking spaces dilutes our character.
I’ve definitely moved in the city *gasp* without a car. I commute to a job outside the city without a car, and have visited friends and family in the Midwest without owning a car. I’ve rented one when I needed one, taken a taxi when I desired, and hired movers when I was schlepping stuff between apartments. I’m sympathetic to our elders and disabled people, but less so to people who park their ridiculous luxury cars and giant suvs on the street. I’m annoyed by the number of out-of-state plates that I see parked freely on our side streets. I think we should move to everything being metered or permitted. If having a car is crucial to your mobility as an elder or to you business— get a permit, perhaps even at a reduced price. It’s crazy that the rest of us subsidize private cars.
Thank you W75 resident – you are the first to say what I have always thought: ALL street parking in NYC should be metered. ALL.
I don’t park on the street. I pay to park in a garage. All these things you describe that you’ve done without a car have been done with someone’s motorized vehicle, even if not your own. Look, nobody likes driving in Manhattan. I personally HATE driving in Manhattan, and will do my best to avoid it. But sometimes it’s my only option. People should try to put themselves in others’ shoes once in a while, and not try to impose what works for them on everybody else who lives here. Street parking facilitates commerce and certain personal residential activities, even if most people don’t have cars. Bike lanes benefit bicyclists even though most people don’t commute by bike. Some people have little interest in museums, sports venues, playgrounds riverfront paths that are on public land or receiving public subsidy. People without kids have some of their taxes go to schools whether they like it or not. All types of people with all types of needs and priorities live in this big city. Some commentators on this thread are telling anyone who disagrees with them to move somewhere else! Balance and tolerance are in order, I think.
The reality is that I work on the UWS and cannot afford to live on the UWS. The amount of housing that would need to be built on the UWS to be able to have me be able to live affordably on the UWS would result in a bitter rezoning fight that may even result in the loss of historic districts. Something that no politician except maybe Sara Lind would be willing to put their name on.
I think if you’re paying to park in a garage you are at least bearing the cost of owning a car and that’s your choice – if its parking on public streets, then it should be heavily discouraged and the space put to better use
Parking on public streets shouldn’t be discouraged. The fact that we have ample street parking is leverage to make the MTA do their job. You see, the reason the MTA exists is because no politician, city/state/federal, wants real accountability on transit service. When we had politicians directly accountable on transit, hard decisions like who’s service to cut, would be avoided. During the Bloomberg congestion pricing plan when we had more street parking and citibike, outdoor dining, bike lanes didn’t exist the way they do today, there were tangible immediate transit improvements proposed. Now with the loss of parking and MTA cutting service despite congestion pricing passing, we are being moved into a false choice in favor of 15 minute cities where Manhattan becomes a defacto gated community. BIG reason why street parking is leverage.
Between these restaurant shacks and the sidewalk sheds that stay up for years for facade work that never happens, New York’s streets have never looked uglier or been more unpleasant to navigate as a pedestrian. Can we please do something about both of these blights?
You nailed! There is no space for pedestrian to walk on the sidewalks. How about the waiters running with orders for the shacks and colliding with a pedestrian dropping the food on the poor soul.
Peter: You totally nailed it!
Mayor Adams has been promising a solution to this since last spring. The needs of diner’s have changed since the early days of the pandemic. These dining sheds are rarely used for more then a few months out of the year. Go anywhere along the UWS and beyond and these sheds are a ghost town during the colder months. People are comfortable with dining indoors so keeping these sheds up for 12 months at a time is useless.
Develop a program where they are out for a few months out of the year then taken down during the colder months. Have these restaurants not only pay a permitting fee, but rent as well. The city for all the crying about low reserves are giving away public space. It’s not important what the options would be if the space was given back to the public. It’s about giving away free space to private enterprise.
Ever notice how large these sheds are???
Joacob’s Pickles on Amsterdam Avenue needs no free assistance from the city. They were crushing it before the pandemic and crushing it by double since outdoor dining. Why are these sheds allowed to extend for 4 or 5 times the length of the store front???
I’m a business owner in Manhattan and one of the biggest values in commercial spaces is store frontage. Why are these restaurants allowed to stretch beyond their frontage then impose on neighboring businesses????
There are so many aspects involved in this topic that people fail to see. It no longer has nothing to do with saving restaurants. If restaurants can’t make it without a more regulated form of outdoor dining or no outdoor dining at all it shouldn’t be up to the city to bail them out.
Businesses all over the 5 boroughs are struggling. Why save just one industry? How about all the other empty spaces where businesses went out, where were their subsidies from NYC??
Outdoor dining is a great option for many. Let these businesses have this option with regulation and rent. The restaurants that pay for this option will take care of their sheds and make them pleasing to their respective neighborhoods.
Don’t be fooled by who is saving who. The restaurant industry is getting a bail out which people are failing to acknowledge.
Restaurants can only use the space directly in front of their restaurant. If they want their space to extend in front of another business or residential building, they must have permission from the other entity. For Jacob’s Pickle, they are next to public property and so are using the space in front of that, not hurting the business of any other entity.
You must be a restaurant owner. This is all untrue. I have a shed that blocks off one of my locations. No permission was asked. There is no regulation that a restaurant needs to ask permission from anyone. There is only a set of general regulations of how the sheds need to be constructed and spacing from the curb.
I’m trying to hate Jacob’s Pickle. They are just one of the worst offenders of taking advantage of outdoor dining. They have probably doubled their seating for free. Many restaurants are getting this for FREE!!!!
Shore up these regulations and make the restaurants who want outdoor dining to pay some sort of RENT. This is the only solution.
That’s deeply untrue. Look at the latin place on 88th street. Their street shed has more square footage than their actual restaurant. Paul is correct, it’s a direct subsidy to restaurants and a provision of free business space. Let alone the fire hazard created by running jury-rigged electrical outlets over the street to the sheds (AHEM FDNY WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON YOUR INSPECTIONS?)
Jacob’s Pickles is one of the worst offenders of taking space that they were never permitted to use.
I like Paul’s plan.
Amen. Socialism for restaurants like Jacobs Pickles I guess is okay! They are raking it in!
They are one of the worst offenders – can’t get down the sidewalk on a weekend outside their estate
If someone is sitting in one of the dining sheds and wind rips a piece off and hits them, or snow causes the roof to collapse, since they person was injured on NYC public land, will they’ve the city? How often are these structures inspected?
Get rid of the sheds. It is an unhealthy situation that brings rats, less walking space and there have been cars running into the sheds. I suppose when someone dies from a car, it will be considered. Hopefully
for me that argument isn’t so much about parking, or giving the space back to “the people” – per the multiple comments, the majority of these sheds are not maintained and their justification has long since lapsed with return to “normal” (or “relative normal”) – most people don’t wear masks anymore, so the emergency lifeline provided by these sheds in the pandemic’s heyday is either unnecessary or at least “less” necessary b/c the tide has turned; these haphazard, hulking and frequently empty/forlorn/dark shells are just eyesores at this point, and they add little if anything to the urban landscape
Hard to believe that we have surrendered to rats.
I am an UWS resident who does not have a car. So I am not defending free parking with this comment. I have severe mobility issues. In order to travel door to door for most purposes, I must take taxis. I already take my life in my hands when trying to hail a taxi as bike riders zip past me, not observing traffic laws and frequently nearly hitting me. Now with all the sidewalk sheds, I find I frequently cannot even reach the curb when exiting the taxi, defeating the point of taking the taxi. And I have to stand in the middle of the street to get a cab driver’s attention, so dangerous. As to aesthetics, these sheds have given our neighborhood the appearance of a shanty town. It’s embarrassing how ugly our formerly beautiful neighborhood has become. I say remove them.
Even more shocking than everything in this great article is that people are willing to pay to sit and eat in these disgusting, dirty shacks. It’s time to take them down before the winter takes its toll. This will be a big part of the solution to our awful trash problem you accurately wrote about recently. Its time, take them down.
Actually there is another constituency beside the rats that have found the continuation of outside dinning a lifeline. That is people like myself who do not feel safe to eat inside restaurants. COVID, despite the unmasked population, is not gone. Now the design of those extensions should be regulated by building codes making sure they are well ventilated etc., additional fees or licensing to make up the revenue needed to make sure that the rats are deprived of their additional nutrition and a well thought out plan to make outside dinning a part of city life is possible. Other cities both here and in Europe have done this and it is not calamitous.
Jack,
With all due respect, some people can’t even afford to eat in restaurants.
Sorry – don’t agree that outdoor shacks should be prioritized because some people feel unsafe inside.
Eating at a restaurant is not a “right”
They are a hazard for cars and for pedestrians. And, most are unattractive. Get rid of them. The pandemic is over, even the president says so.
This opinion piece is so silly. We should build the restaurant sections of the road up two or three stories, maybe ten or thirty! Then let us take over the Broadway and Park Ave medians and build new housing! We could literally reclaim thousands of acres for people to live in and have new retail spaces too. We could put monorails up on the 10th, 20th and 30th floors. Think big, UWSers, not provincially.
Cars are dangerous and antidemocratic. Give all the parking space back to those who own it, us. or I am going to build my own apartment in a parking spot on the street somewhere, for free! I am quite serious about this. The plumbing is already right there, and electricity, easy, from a lamp pole or something. Why is someone with an SUV able to commandeer100 sq ft of public space for free most of the time and I can’t? Especially space so inefficiently used?
Rats are not in NYC because of restaurants. They are here because people are.
Becky, you might want to take some inspiration from the Andrew’s Honey truck, parked in front of the Dakota, seemingly permanently, with a “FARM” license plate (hahaha !!), no honey or bees in sight, and Andrew probably living in the truck itself. I am partially kidding here – he runs a legitimate operation but as evidenced by the “FARM” license plate, knows exactly how to work the system.
Incredibly so many restaurant shacks have more seats outside than inside and also block building entrances!
Not naming names but for example, a restaurant on 70th street has a massive shed and blocks the entrance to an apartment building – so people cannot get Access a Ride etc.
On Amsterdam there are consecutive sheds that block a supported housing residence. Same issue.
And if there was a fire, FDNY trucks could not raise ladders properly
Public space GIVEN to for profit -often predatory LANDLORDS of restaurants -who’re then able to jack-up rents with impunity because of non-existent commercial leases-is a Capone-like turf hostage taking -selectively chosen for those who paid well at our electeds’ offices. Rats-blight and noise abound-but more than that-it’s open season for those to steal quality of life livability from residents on the basis of an emergency which has been declared-OVER!
I thought the blight of the restaurant sheds was only downtown in my neighborhood, but wow, was I ever wrong! I was on the UES this week and there were hideous sheds up there as well. And now I’m seeing this. Wow.
These sheds have got to go. I don’t have a car either, but sometimes I have a medical issue that impairs my mobility. It can be especially hard when I have to carry things like groceries. We need street space for cars to pick up and drop off people where they can easily get to sidewalks. The city has to be for all the people, not just for people who are young and ablebodied enough to ride bikes.
The picture above is on Amsterdam NOT Columbus. I vote to remove the sheds!
These ugly shacks/sheds need to go. What an unhygienic eyesore they are.
Have heard that the head of the restaurant lobby, Hospitality Alliance, is a member of Community Board 7.
How is that allowed?
Sidewalk cafes have a certain appeal when done the right way. The current dining sheds ain’t it. Outdoor dining areas should be adjacent to the buildings under awnings or umbrellas. Expand the sidewalks on the avenues as necessary.
One way to deal with this, and yes it’s a bit harsh, but stop eating at restaurants that have the sheds. And let them know you want to support them but unfortunately will have to boycott them until they remove their sheds.
I agree with the writers of this piece. It’s long past time to remove what was a temporary solution to a problem during the pandemic to allow restaurants to continue to operate. But there was no code or standard to which these sheds had to conform. Many are totally enclosed making them far less safe than dining indoors where there is at least air exchange. Time to reclaim our streets.
DiBlasio is no longer mayor, but the one we did elect doesn’t seem to be any more effective at instituting needed policy changes as his predecessor. I’m sure most of us vote for Adams because the other choice wasn’t really a choice. Maybe in the next election there’s being a Democratic candidate in the primary or there will be a decent Republican option that I would certainly be more amenable to than another do-nothing mayor.
You forgot to mention how the sheds have intruded on the bike lane infrastructure, creating an unsafe “frogger” situation for shed customers and cyclists.
It’s time for the “free lunch” to end. Pre-pandemic, restaurants were required to apply for licenses, pay fees and comply with associated regulations in order to operate on the sidewalk. If restaurant sheds are to become permanent fixtures of our city’s streetscape, then licensing/fees/regulations/standards and ENFORCEMENT are a must. Size restrictions based on the interior’s occupancy requirements (no more 10-20 seat restaurants occupying space for 50 seats – to the detriment of their non-restaurant business neighbors). There must be uniform design requirements vis a vis sanitation and ease of access for emergency vehicles.
It’s time for the “free lunch” to end. Pre-pandemic, restaurants were required to apply for licenses, pay fees and comply with associated regulations in order to operate on the sidewalk. If restaurant sheds are to become permanent fixtures of our city’s streetscape, then licensing/fees/regulations/standards and ENFORCEMENT are a must. Size restrictions based on the interior’s occupancy requirements (no more 10-20 seat restaurants occupying space for 50 seats – to the detriment of their non-restaurant business neighbors). There must be uniform design requirements vis a vis sanitation and ease of access for emergency vehicles. Lastly, many restaurants now charge a “convenience fee” for using a credit card – on top of their jacked up prices that will never be reversed. No more free lunch for restaurants!
This is the biggest giveaway by the last mayor and our new restaurant loving mayor.
If the streets are up for grabs let, for instance, Fairway should be allowed to take over the side walk. Then we’ll have a lane for pedestrians only.
Also with streets up for grabs please consider this my formal request for ten feet of street for my parking spot.
Funny how this has gotten very little press.
Sid