New York City is drafting new rules that would allow eateries to make outdoor dining permanent. That’s just one of the ways the pandemic has shaped the way the city uses its roadways — giving more space to people, and less to cars.
“There have been a lot of closings of things during COVID. There are sections of blocks where there’s lots and lots of empty storefronts, and that’s depressing,” said Maura Harway, who lives in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. “So anything that brings people back and helps the businesses and helps the neighborhood to feel alive and lively.”
“The message to all New Yorkers is that our space is their space — that our streets don’t belong to car owners only,” said the commissioner, who oversees both the Open Restaurants and Open Streets programs. Before the pandemic, 1,200 establishments had permits to set up tables and chairs on sidewalks. But under the pandemic era’s emergency Open Restaurants program, more than 12,000 eateries and bars got permission to extend service into the streets.
For now, the city’s reimagining of outdoor dining remains in flux because of legal challenges by some community activists and residents who balk at the loss of parking spaces — at least 8,500 spaces in a city where real estate has always been a valuable commodity, whether it be for cars or otherwise.
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