Restaurant shanties hit with lawsuit again

 

AMNY

New York City has been hit with a class action lawsuit seeking to overturn its newly permanent outdoor dining program, with petitioners claiming the popular al fresco eateries are an unconstitutional nuisance.

The suit, filed against the city in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday by 30 New York City residents, claims the recently-enacted permanent outdoor dining program — which replaced the temporary, emergency-authorized program that began during the COVID-19 pandemic — is illegal for not having been subject to a full environmental impact review and public comment.

That allowed the city to enact what the petitioners describe as a “massive change to the cityscape that defines New Yor[k] City” that is “highly destructive to city neighborhoods and the petitioners who reside in them.”

Before the pandemic, outdoor dining was only allowed in a few areas of the city, mostly in Manhattan, and was subject to a long, bureaucratic and expensive approval process. Soon after COVID-19 struck the city and forced restaurants to shut their doors, city officials used emergency powers to significantly liberalize permitting for outdoor dining, allowing thousands of eateries the chance to reopen for customers to dine in and greatly expanding the scope of al fresco eating. Many built elaborate shacks on the sidewalk or roadway for dining.

City officials and restaurant industry reps have claimed the outdoor dining program saved 100,000 restaurant industry jobs and kept innumerable eateries from having to close. Pandemic-era polls showed the program to be broadly popular with New Yorkers; a December 2020 poll by Siena College and Transportation Alternatives found 64% of voters, including 78% of Manhattan voters, found outdoor dining a valuable use of curb space.

Still, others were less than enthused from the beginning. Critics of outdoor dining have contended that dining sheds take away parking spots, attract rats and other vermin, are havens for homeless New Yorkers and crime, and bring noisy crowds to their blocks for all-night revelry.

“This saturation of outdoor seating is not serving me, my family, or my business. It has made this neighborhood pretty much unlivable most of the time,” said Ellen Koenigsberg, a Lower East Side resident who owns a vintage clothing shop and is a petitioner in the class-action suit, in an affidavit. “I feel like I always have uninvited guests in my apartment that just will not leave.”

Others are perturbed by what they contend are “ugly” dining sheds.

“They mostly look like large, dirty garages and disrupt and change the nature of the street,” said fellow Lower East Side resident and petitioner Elizabeth Dworkin. “It feels like a fort has been built on the block to keep the local residents away so paying customers and bars, clubs, and restaurants can occupy all of the public space.”

This claim about how these shanties saved 100,000 jobs is highly dubious, until you consider that probably over half of them were waiters on wheels from all those bike deliveries during the pandemic.

 

Steal your face

 NY Post

This could put a real dent in the fake ID market.

The New York State Senate is moving forward with proposed legislation that would allow bars and restaurants to use facial recognition or fingerprint scanners to verify someone’s age before they buy alcohol, tobacco or electronic cigarettes.

“This is the new frontier of age verification,” said state Sen. James Skoufis, who is sponsoring the biometrics bill. “It does advance the interests of convenience.”

Skoufis envisions that bars and restaurants could scan fingerprints, faces or retinas of customers who want to be spared the trouble of showing an ID when they return to an establishment in the future. The proposed legislation requires all data to be encrypted and prohibits businesses from selling biometric data to third parties.

“No one’s forced into engaging with this technology, but they would have the choice,” Skoufis said. “There’s no big brother involved.”

Skoufis, who chairs the Investigation and Government Operations Committee, said he expects his committee will advance the proposal to the full Senate Monday. There is currently no sponsor in the Assembly though Skoufis said several members have expressed interest.

State lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn for the year on June 2.

Washington state approved a similar proposal in 2018, which allows spectators at professional sporting events to pass security and buy concessions with their fingerprints.

The legislative language states that the State Liquor Authority and the state Department of Health would be responsible for crafting regulations controlling the recording and maintenance of biometric data, which the bill states must be “stored in a centralized, highly secured, encrypted biometric database.”

Expanding the use of biometrics means privacy risks for New Yorkers, according to Albert Fox Cahn, a visiting fellow at Yale Law School and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. And unlike a credit card number or driver’s license, biometrics canno ever be changed, he added.

“This is a horrifying invitation for identity theft,” he said. “If one bar or restaurant gets hacked, our identities are compromised for the rest of our lives … more biometric data, potentially expands the power of government agencies to track us because this data is just going to be one court order away from being turned into a policing tool.”

 

The NYC Open Restaurants Clustershanty Of Koreatown

Impunity City

 It wasn’t much long ago when yours truly did a expansive on the street eyewitness story about the much ballyhooed NYC Open Restaurants program (albeit ballyhooed by our feckless and bought elected officials in NYC Council, former mayor Bill de Blasio and current Mayor Eric Adams) and what an actual clusterfuck it was and making a case out it shouldn’t exist anymore. Now thanks to a judge’s recent decision to order the city to make a thorough environmental review of the restaurant shanties all over the five boroughs, it has thankfully put a pounding kibosh on the City Council Cronies plan to make these unsafe, blighted, filthy, ugly and traffic congesting eyesores a permanent part of the street infrastructure which the restaurants have been using for free for the last two years.

 

But before the Council Cronies begin their study, I would like to present exhibit A on why every public space these restaurants has usurped must cease to exist and that’s the massive triple cluster shanty on the southwest corner of 32nd St. and 5th Ave, just two blocks away from the Empire State Building.

This is truly the tipping point of public space misuse and the heinous blight that has befouled the streets in the last year, which continues unencumbered because of the willful obliviousness of elected officials and the persistent bickering demands of the hospitality industrial complex lobby, represented by some neoliberal runt named Andrew Rigie.

Behold.

 

 

 

Impunity City 

Bill de Blasio diverted FDNY building inspectors to montior vaccine mandate enforcement at restaurants with deadly results

 

NY Daily News

 A Bronx building that became a towering inferno in January, leaving 17 dead, was scheduled to be examined by an FDNY fire inspector several months beforehand — but it didn’t happen because the inspector was reassigned to conduct COVID restaurant inspections.

 The troubling account came from Oren Barzilay, president of the union that represents paramedics and fire inspectors who testified Wednesday at a hearing held by the City Council’s Fire and Emergency Management Committee.

“That building was scheduled to be inspected, but because they were sent to a task force, that building was not inspected,” he testified.

“It’s terrible,” he told the Daily News after his testimony. “I’m not blaming Eric Adams. I’m blaming the previous administration for not thinking it through.”

The Jan. 9 blaze at Twin Parks North West in the Bronx killed 17 people and left dozens more injured. The fire was caused by a faulty space heater that burst into flames and made worse by malfunctioning doors that were designed to close on their own. Because the doors failed to shut, the toxic smoke spread quickly through the 19-story building.

The blaze was the deadliest in the city since the Happy Land night club fire killed 87 people in 1990.

Barzilay told the Daily News an inspector was assigned to Twin Parks about a year before the fire took place to examine the building’s stand pipe system, which would supply it with water in the event of a fire. Barzilay noted that while inspectors wouldn’t have focused on inspecting doors, any problems they saw would have been flagged and addressed.

“If they had noticed anything else, they would have addressed the issue,” he said.

Barzilay also noted a Brooklyn building that was the site of an explosion recently was also slated to be inspected before the incident, but was not because inspectors were diverted to enforce vaccine mandates at city restaurants. Mayor Adams rolled back those requirements, known as the Key2NYC, on Monday.

City Council set to make the shanty emergency program a permanent one even though the emergency is about to end

Queens Eagle

Permanent al fresco dining is now one step closer to becoming a reality in Queens and the rest of the city after the City Council approved a bill amending the city’s zoning laws Thursday.

While the council passed a text amendment that eliminates zoning restrictions for sidewalk cafes throughout the five boroughs, just how the city’s permanent outdoor dining program will ultimately look is still very much up for debate.

City legislators passed the text amendment 43 to 6, with one member abstaining. In Queens, Councilmembers James Gennaro and Robert Holden voted against the amendment, which only sets the table for a permanent outdoor dining program but doesn’t actually create one. All other Queens councilmembers voted in support of the amendment.

“This new local law will be kind of too broad in the sense that it’s one size fits all,” Gennaro told the Eagle. “Will it allow for the kind of granularity that you need to regulate something like this? My hunch is no, it won't.”

“I hope that I’m wrong,” he added. “Everyone has good intentions here but I’m wary.”

The appetite for the text amendment, which first made its way through community boards and borough boards throughout the city, has been mild – its strongest support has been in the City Council. Still, nearly every councilmember who spoke in support of the text amendment Thursday also expressed reservations.

“This program born of pandemic necessity has been a gift to our city in many ways. It was an economic lifeline and still is to many of our small businesses and it has now fundamentally changed how many dining establishments operate, and how New Yorkers utilize their public spaces,” said Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé. “However, this program needs to ensure that our streets are for the people and not the rats. The rodent population growth has been undeniable and is clearly linked to outdoor dining.”

The sentiment was repeated by a number of councilmembers, including Queens Councilmember Linda Lee, who represents portions of Bayside Hills, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Holliswood, Little Neck, New Hyde Park, Oakland Gardens and Queens Village. 

 

Omicron panic shuts down hipster eateries

 

 Gothamist

A new winter COVID-19 surge in New York City has temporarily shuttered more than two dozen restaurants, battering an industry that had only begun to claw its way back from a nearly two-year pandemic ordeal.

Almost all the restaurants that have closed have put up statements on Instagram explaining there are confirmed COVID-19 exposures among their staff, as the delta and omicron variants tear through the city. On Thursday, Eater compiled a list of a dozen of the restaurants, some of which have since reopened and some of which said they won't reopen for several days.

That number ballooned to at least 30 by Friday morning.

"It's a bummer to limp into the holiday break on such a difficult week for everyone," said Chef Dennis Ngo, who runs Greenpoint's Di An Di, which shut down Wednesday after one positive case on their team.

"We take this stuff very seriously," Ngo told Gothamist. "That necessitated us closing, and then we required everyone to go out and get tested. We were asking all of our team members to either get two rapid tests back-to-back on consecutive days, or one PCR test. And based on that, we would have felt comfortable opening if we had all of those results in for today, but we experienced a lot of testing challenges."

He said his 30 employees were met with long lines at testing locations around Greenpoint, and many sites ended up running out of rapid tests.

"Even the ones that got PCRs, they were promised results by the end of the day yesterday, and they still haven't seen results yet," he noted Thursday. Some tried to get home tests, but they "had to go to three or four pharmacies to get it. It became kind of a game yesterday of trying to find what was the fastest place or easiest way to get them rapid tests."

Ngo estimated the restaurant loses around $7,000-$9,000 each night it's closed. On top of that, they were already planning to close for two weeks at the end of the month starting next week to give their team a break from such a challenging year, so it's unclear whether they'll have the chance to reopen before then.

 So far, there are more than ten restaurants in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area that have shut down:Bernie's, Cozy Royale, Di An Di, We Got Company, Winonas, Thief, Frankel's Delicatessen, Pheasant, L'industrie Pizzeria, Misi, Lilia, Five Leaves, Four Horsemen. There were several more in other Brooklyn neighborhoods: LaLou, Love, Nelly, Nite Nite, Oxalis, Rialto Grande, Otway, Bar Meridian. Grand Army Bar and Ugly Baby both announced they would stay closed until the end of the year.

The surge has also hit places in Ridgewood, including The Acre (who recommended that anyone who went there this week get tested), Porcelain, and I Like Food (who said they would remain closed until after Christmas). Other restaurants that have shut down in various parts of the city include Temperance Wine Bar in the West Village, Bessou in the Lower East Side and Top Quality in Long Island City.

Restaurants week of reckoning

Black Lives Matter calls The Blaz's vaccine mandate racist

"72% of black people in this city, from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated" says @newyorkvonni
At Cancel Carmines protest ,
"what is going to stop them (NYPD) from rounding up black folks"
Chivona Newsome is a co-founder of BLM Greater NY chapter. https://t.co/Me18Vgf34d pic.twitter.com/omRMDJnBN4

— Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) September 24, 2021

 

Fox News

A leader of the Greater New York chapter of Black Lives Matter says Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is targeting Black people with his mandate requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter certain businesses in the city, and warned that continuation of the dictate could spark an "uprising" similar to last year's George Floyd protests.

The threat comes from chapter co-founder Chivona Newsome, who unleashed on city leaders during a demonstration earlier this week outside a restaurant that allegedly denied service to a group of Black would-be patrons.

"Seventy-two percent of Black people in this city from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated," Newsome shouted into a megaphone. 

 "So what is going to stop the Gestapo, I mean the NYPD, from rounding up Black people, from snatching them off the train, snatching Black people off the bus?" she added.

"We’re putting this city on notice. Your mandate will not be another racist social distance practice," Newsome went on to say. "Black people are not going to stand by, or you will see another uprising. And that is not a threat. That is a promise. Because it is our job to defend liberty, and that is what we are here to do."

The mandate, announced by de Blasio in early August, requires that both workers and customers of certain categories of businesses like restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters provide proof that they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to enter.

But since the rule went into effect, there have been reports of disputes at several establishments, which have also been burdened with manning the front lines of its enforcement.   

 Besides the other outlandish claims this duo is making, the NYPD is not tasked with enforcing the fascist and discriminatory vaccine mandate. Yet.

It took less than 2 days...

 

 

NY Post

A group of restaurants and businesses have filed suit against Mayor Bill de Blasio in opposition to a mandate requiring proof of vaccination at city eateries, gyms, movie theaters and other establishments, new court papers show.

The businesses argue that the mandate violates their constitutional rights and unfairly targets certain establishments but not others like churches, grocery stores, schools, offices and medical facilities, the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Staten Island Supreme Court alleges.

The suit says that the mandate is “arbitrary and capricious” for a slew of reasons including that the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant can spread among both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, the court documents claim.

The mandate also doesn’t accommodate certain exceptions for getting vaccinated such as those who’ve already gotten the virus; those who are allergic to ingredients in the vaccine; those who have pre-existing conditions that make getting the vaccine risky; and those whose religious beliefs stop them from getting it, the filing argues.

“The decision to get the vaccine should ultimately lie with the individual and his doctor, who knows that persons’ complete medical history, rather than a politician,” the court papers claim.

Further, emergency orders have been in effect for almost two years and instead of easing off, “the mayor implemented even more arbitrary executive orders, trampling more recklessly on constitutional rights,” the suit charges.

The mandate also threatens people’s livelihoods, making it “impossible for anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated for whatever reason, to work in the designated industries,” the court papers claim.

Vaccine mandate has restaurants standing up to them and running scared about them

 

 

 CBS NY

 Starting next week, proof of vaccination will be required in New York City for some indoor activities, including going out to eat, but not all restaurants are on board.

“Whether you’re vaccinated or not, you are welcome,” said Mary Josephine Generoso, manager at Pasticceria Rocco’s of Bay Ridge.

There’s a sign of protest in the window of the restaurant, defiant against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s upcoming vaccine mandate.

It reads, “We do not discriminate against ANY customer based on sex, gender, race, creed, age, vaccinate or unvaccinated. All customers who wish to patronize are welcome in our establishment.”

“I just do not feel that we’re gonna be able to sit there and ask customers to show if they’ve been vaccinated or not,” Generoso told CBS2’s Ali Bauman.

 

 Queens Chronicle

 Starting Monday, everyone is getting carded.

Mayor de Blasio’s latest initiative requires proof of vaccination to get into a variety of indoor public spaces, such as restaurants, gyms and performance venues.

Customers and workers need proof of at least once inoculation shot to be inside, the new mandate outlines. The move, which de Blasio dubbed the “Key to NYC Pass,” is an aggressive switch from the mayor’s previous incentives, which included free museum tickets, free meals and even $100 payments.

“If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” de Blasio said Aug 3. “It’s time.”

According to city Department of Health data, about 73.2 percent of all New York City adults have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Children under the age of 12, who are not eligible to get the shot, are exempt from the new mandate and will be allowed entry into restaurants, gyms, performance venues and more without proof. De Blasio said he expects kids from 5 to 11 to become eligible in the next few months.

That leaves just 26.8 percent of the New York City population, as well as the fluctuating rate of tourists, who would be barred from indoor businesses beginning Aug. 16.

The number is low enough that the mandate doesn’t worry many business owners. Plenty are actually hopeful that placing restrictions will finally force people into getting the vaccine.

“It’s a draconian measure that has to be taken,” said Carl Clay, the founder of the Black Spectrum Theatre Co. The St. Albans venue had self-imposed the rule on its workers and customers over a month ago because it was the “right thing to do.”

“Did anybody have a problem? Not at all,” Clay continued. “I think to anybody who has any sense of what’s going on around them it makes sense.”

Clay equated proof of vaccination to having a driver’s license. You can drive on the road if you have one, but you can’t sit in the driver’s seat without one.

Other business owners believe the mandate may actually result in an increase in business — according to already established Covid-19 guidelines, social distancing within a venue can be eliminated if all customers and workers are vaccinated.

Theoretically, Annette Runcie said, restaurateurs can boost sales by packing their space with vaccinated customers rather than by catering to those who are not.

“There’s a lot of people who told me they won’t be comfortable coming out because the infection rate is increasing, so this will make them feel more secure,” said Runcie, who owns Pa-Nash Eurosoul in Rosedale.

Update: One more time from Louis Rossmann

Autumn is coming

Paris just implented vaccine passports.

This is what they look like in action. pic.twitter.com/NWVjGX7GF2

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) August 9, 2021

 

 Bloomberg

 Jennifer Vitagliano has been in perpetual pivot mode for over a year now. Since the start of the pandemic, the owner of the Michelin-starred Musket Room in Manhattan’s SoHo has hatched a delivery menu and a brunch menu to lure new customers and borrowed a 1962 van from a friend to sell doughnuts and cocktails in front of her eight-year-old restaurant, which is known for its inventive spin on new American dishes. Of all the flexes she’s made, playing bouncer has been the most exhausting.

In early June, after several Covid-19 cases hit the industry, Vitagliano and her business partners decided that Musket Room customers who wanted to dine indoors needed to be vaccinated. When a group of five guests arrived for dinner one evening, two covertly passed a phone between them, trying to prove that they were vaccinated by using the same Excelsior Pass, an electronic vaccination record created by New York state. Vitagliano, doubling as the vaccine card checker, caught the pair and stopped them from entering.

“It’s the largest cultural clash we’ve ever faced,” says Vitagliano of trying to enforce Covid-19 protections. “We didn’t get into business to be bouncers, but here we are.”

Vitagliano’s experience is a preview of what the thousands of New York City dining, fitness, and entertainment establishments will experience in mid-September, when Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new policy requiring vaccinations to enter these indoor venues kicks in. “If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” de Blasio said at a press conference on August 3. “It’s time.”

Vaccination rates have stalled in recent weeks, even amid an uptick in cases and hospitalizations. Nationwide, 57.9% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. New York City is just above the national average, with 59.5% vaccinated. The new mandate, which will begin on Sept. 13, requires that all employees and patrons in these establishments have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Under the system, patrons will have to show a vaccine card, the new NYC Covid Safe app (where users can upload their identification, vaccine card, and recent Covid-19 test results), or the state’s Excelsior Pass app. But forging fake cards, considered a felony, or using the legitimate cards of others will inevitably be an issue. The NYC Covid Safe app doesn’t actually check the validity of the vaccination card or cross reference it with outside databases, such as state records. There are also public concerns around handing more personal information over to the government.

Assessing vaccination status is the latest headache restaurant owners face. The industry was already dealing with the stresses of getting indoor dining back up and running, along with a labor shortage. The number of workers is down an estimated 1.3 million, 10% below what it was before the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Meanwhile, restaurateurs find themselves in the crosshairs of a culture war. Salil Mehta, chef and owner of the Singaporean restaurant Laut, says the mayor’s announcement “freaks him out.” Although he’s pro-vaccine, he says this dynamic will be especially hard on Asian restaurants, where racism is already a problem. Mehta says that when he spoke with his local police precinct about the new mandate, officers told him they won’t be monitoring restaurants but he has a right to kick out customers who won’t leave. “Then you’re in close contact with someone who isn’t vaccinated, and it shouldn’t be our job,” says Mehta, who can’t afford to hire security. “I don’t want to be the guy policing these things.

Others are preparing their staff to disarm potentially heated situations. At Dhamaka, a new Indian restaurant on the Lower East Side, front-of-house lead Tina Dolker is anticipating cancelations when the rule goes into effect, along with contentious interactions. “We are going to have special training on how to say ‘no,’” she says. Danny Meyer, the chief executive officer of Union Square Hospitality Group LLC, says staff at his restaurants will receive guidance on how to deal with aggressive guests. “We have been working on de-escalation techniques for months,” Meyer says.

Now I'm sure you all noticed in that video above that the cops are checking people's vac passes outside. And whatever plan Shake Shack Shithead and NYC EDC figurehead Meyer has for de-escaltions, inevitably the NYPD will be summoned if it gets rowdy. Then the NYPD will inevitably wind up enforcing the mandate because of whatever latest iteration it is to keep customers, workers and business owners safe. And we will have to refund the police all over again...

This is going to be bedlam. You have been warned.

Getting vaccine mandate access is going to be a snap

 

 Gothamist

 Pictures of cats, Mickey Mouse, even a takeout menu from a BBQ restaurant: Users of New York City’s COVID SAFE app have discovered they can upload just about any photo into the new vaccine verification software.

Though the app only debuted this week, its vulnerabilities have come under scrutiny as the city announced a new policy to require proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for entry to indoor dining, gyms and entertainment performances.

“The New York City app is nothing more than a glorified photo storage app,” said Brian Linder of cybersecurity research company Check Point. He added, “When someone shows a picture of a card in this app, it's believed that it's real, but there's absolutely no verification of it whatsoever.”

City officials said it’s up to the staff at restaurants, gyms and event spaces to verify the authenticity of the pictures in the app--no different than bouncers checking drivers’ licenses at bars.

“The NYC COVID Safe App was designed with privacy at the top of mind, and allows someone to digitally store their CDC card and identification,” Laura Feyer, spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said in an emailed statement. “Someone checking vaccination cards at the door to a restaurant or venue would see that those examples are not proper vaccine cards and act accordingly.”

 But the COVID SAFE app creates an opening for a black market based on fake vaccine cards. While a bill criminalizing the falsification of vaccine records under state law is now awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature, the opportunity for fraud is rampant on many levels.

 

Vaccination papers please

 

 NY Daily News

 Anyone who wants to dine, drink, exercise or enjoy a live performance indoors in New York City will soon have to show proof of coronavirus vaccination or be denied entry, Mayor de Blasio announced Tuesday in his most aggressive push yet to jack up the city’s flagging immunization rates.

The requirement, which mirrors mandates on leisure activities enforced in some European countries, is presumed to be the first-of-its-kind in the U.S. and comes as the Big Apple is seeing a delta-variant driven surge in new COVID-19 infections.

The program, dubbed “Key to NYC Pass,” will launch Aug. 16 and phase in over the coming weeks before officially kicking off Sept. 13, the start of the school year, de Blasio said in his daily briefing from City Hall.

“This is crucial because we know that this will encourage a lot more vaccination,” the mayor said.

Communties are sick of the restaurant shanties

 

 

 CBS New York

 The city’s plan to make outdoor dining permanent is meeting a lot of resistance from local residents.

They say noise, rats and lack of space are just some of the problems, CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported Monday.

Residents in the West Village sounded off to the community board that is tasked with providing input on what will be the regulations for the new law. They said they want to support their local businesses, but when the pandemic is over the outdoor dining structures should be gone, too.

The structures have been a lifesaver for restaurants. They are so popular, the city is making the pandemic additions permanent.

But some residents say they have become a nuisance.

“These sheds are creating a vermin habitat like we’ve never seen before,” Lee Arntzen said.

“Noise comes with this and it shouldn’t be on this street, certainly not on a narrow residential street,” Stu Waldman said.

“It’s like a bandshell pointing at your bedroom. That’s the kind of noise,” Leslie Clark added.

Cellphone video shows how the neighborhood transforms, especially on the weekends — music blasting as large crowds dance outside, structures leaving little room to walk on the sidewalk, and the mounds of trash left behind that residents say attract rats.

“I have to walk on the subway grates and with my cane it makes me fearful,” Dorothy Green said.

In a statement, the mayor’s office said in part, “Outdoor dining saved 100,000 jobs. A stance against outdoor dining is a stance against this city’s recovery. It’s here to stay.”

That’s a sentiment city leaders tried to reinforce during Monday’s presentation to Community Board 2.

“The program has been a massive success and in April the City Council voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill to make it permanent,” the Department of Transportation’s Judy Chang said to boos from the crowd.

The Blaz keeps mask mandates going for schools as he promotes restaurant weeks where masks don't apply as infections spread

 

AMNY

New York City doesn’t have plans to change its current mask-wearing policy in schools and adhere to recently updated guidelines from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. 

In a major policy shift last week, the CDC called for the full reopening of schools across the country even if doing so meant dropping its three-foot social distancing requirement and recommended only unvaccinated adults and children wear masks while inside school buildings. 

The New York State Department of Health is currently reviewing the amended guidelines and their decision on whether to relax mask wearing requirements in schools could impact whether the DOE adopts the new CDC recommendations. But for now New York City public school families should expect that teachers, staff and students regardless of vaccination status will need to face coverings in classrooms this fall, according to de Blasio. 

“There will be a lot of communication before school and once it begins for now assume we are wearing masks,” de Blasio told reporters during a morning press conference. “ But that could change as we get closer…we will be driven by the data and see what the science has to say.” 

The CDC guideline changes come amid a national push to boost slowing vaccination rates across the country. De Blasio started off his Monday press conference touting New York City’s vaccination rate stating that 4.4 million city residents are now fully vaccinated against the virus.  

According to the CDC, about 4.9 million New York City residents are fully vaccinated against the virus and 5.4 million, or about 64% of the city’s population, has received at least one dose of the vaccine which falls just a little below the nation’s overall rate.

 NY Post

New York City diners will be able to enjoy temporarily discounted meals at more than 500 restaurants for five weeks this summer, in a lengthened Restaurant Week aimed at helping struggling restaurants recover from the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

The newly extended tourism and hospitality industry promotion will start on July 19 and end Aug. 22, the mayor said at his daily press briefing.

“Restaurant Week is launching next week, in a new, amazing form,” de Blasio said, boasting of more than a month of “great discounts, great specials” across the five boroughs.

“This is going to be amazing,” he said. “Think about restaurants you’ve always wanted to go to. Here’s the opportunity to experience them, and it’s a wonderful, super Restaurant Week that’s going to be really inviting again for New Yorkers and a special opportunity to come out and celebrate for folks who are not from around here.

NYC Plans To Make Eating & Drinking Road + Sidewalk Sheds Permanent

 

 

 Neighborhoods United

Dear Neighbor,
We wanted to make you aware that the Department of Transportation is initiating a public meeting at every Community Board in the city to push through the ZONING TEXT CHANGES that will allow Open Restaurants and Bars to become PERMANENT. 

In many areas,  the eating and drinking sheds have become severely problematic. As such, we are adamantly opposed to Outdoor Dining Sheds becoming a permanent fixture in NYC. 

We appreciate that these sheds were a lifeline for the hospitality industry during the pandemic and allowed residents a safe place to social distance. Since Covid restrictions have been lifted, we think it is time for the emergency dining sheds to be retired, and the sidewalk cafe process is reinstated regarding alfresco dining.

However, you feel about the Open Restaurants program, no public input or proper environmental impact study was commissioned. Instead, the city rammed the sheds through behind closed doors with little to no oversight, calling it an unbridled success with few issues to resolve. And agencies, like the Dept. of Transportation, testified two weeks ago that there was no increase in noise or any other quality of life or safety issues related to Open Dining Sheds. This is demonstratively false!

We now have the opportunity (and one last chance) to come out and voice our concerns.

WE URGE YOU TO SHOW UP! IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE BODIES AND VOICES IN THE ROOM!

Transportation, Public Safety, & Environment Committee
Tuesday, July 13 at 6:30 pm
Boys Club of New York
287 East 10th Street (at Avenue A)

*Please attend all four upcoming citywide community board meetings, if you can?  Click here for more info about when and where.

FYI:

• Citywide Text Amendment: Open Restaurants (zoning changes to facilitate outdoor dining 
• Click here for the text amendment application

We appreciate your consideration, and please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Kind regards,

Diem Boyd, LES Dwellers
Tamara Daley, Orchard Street Block Association
Jan Lee,  The Chinatown Core
Stuart Zamsky, The East Fifth Street Block Association

 

 

Cuomo says the restaurant shanties can stay another year

NY Post

Andrew Cuomo approved a measure that allows restaurants to set up outdoor dining on city sidewalks and streets. Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday rubber stamped a measure that temporarily extends a COVID-lockdown policy that permitted restaurants to set up shop on city sidewalks and streets — a pandemic practice that the Democrat said has served as “much-needed lifeline” to eateries.

The law, which takes effect immediately, extends for another year an executive order signed by the governor letting municipal spaces such as sidewalks and streets be used for outdoor dining, which has allowed for physical distancing — and for New Yorkers to enjoy meals without risking spreading COVID-19, which is more easily transmitted indoors.

“As we build New York back better than it was before, it’s important that we learn from the past and capitalize on those efforts that helped so many of New York’s small businesses survive amid the global pandemic,” said Cuomo in a statement about the bill signing. 

“By extending the much-needed lifeline that allowed restaurants to use outdoor public spaces for seating during the pandemic, New York is ensuring that these small businesses will be able to continue to use these spaces as they work to rebuild and support the revitalization of the Empire State.”

 

The SLA is looking out for small businesses! (/end sarcasm)

From the NY Post:

The SLA on Wednesday adopted new rules that will require New York restaurants with a liquor license to add up all the fees a delivery company charges them each year to ensure the they don’t exceed 10 percent of the restaurant’s annual revenue.

If the fees exceed 10 percent of the restaurant’s annual revenues, the delivery company will need to be added to the restaurant’s liquor license.

The issue came to a head in 2019 when the regulatory agency held hearings on food delivery app fees that ranged from 15 percent to 30 percent of each order, raising questions about whether these companies are violating the SLA’s rules.

Many restaurateurs expected the agency to resolve the issue by capping fees at 10 percent of each order, akin to the exception made for landlords. Alternatively, the SLA might have ordered food delivery apps to adapt a flat fee for NY restaurants with a liquor license.

Neither the delivery companies or the restaurants are happy now.

Restaurant shanties usurps nearly 9,000 curb spaces meant for cars

 

 NY Post

They have an appetite for obstruction!

Restaurants have gobbled up around 8,550 publicly-owned curbside parking spots for their outdoor seating set-ups since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to city data.

Since last June, City Hall and the Department of Transportation have let eateries build the dining areas in the now-former spots outside their storefronts. At the time, indoor eating was restricted amid the pandemic, though Mayor de Blasio has declared that the program will be permanent and year-round.

Around 11,500 restaurants joined the program, of which about 5,700 have chosen to set up shop along the curb. That adds up to “roughly” 8,550 spots transformed — out of around 3 million total parking spots across the five boroughs, City Hall spokesman Mitch Schwartz said.

For the operators of TRU Astoria cafe on Ditmars Boulevard, the extra space was well worth the trade-off — as business has “more than doubled” since installing dining tables along the sidewalk and curb.

“Thank god we adjusted. The extended patio. The outdoor seating. Being able to use the street. It strengthened our brand,” said Yanni Stathakis, 48, operations director for Astoria Hospitality Group, which owns the eatery.

“People in all five boroughs are now coming to Astoria to eat here at Ditmars. It was good the city did this.”

But just across the road, Sal Barretta of Alba’s Pizza said the program has taken a bite out of his business.

“My customers are telling me they aren’t coming here because they can’t find parking,” said Barretta, who opted not to set up dining tables in the roadbed because he figured there was plenty of space inside.

“The sheds, I did not do it. Maybe I should have,” Baretta said. “But we don’t need to be on the street. We have 101 seats inside. These sheds, really dangerous. It’s a huge liability. It’s dirty. It’s dangerous. You’re breathing in all the exhaust from the cars.”

Baretta said the restaurant next door to his closed months ago — but its outdoor dining set-up continues to clog up potential parking spots.

“The place next door, six months out of business. Still these three parking spots are closed because he left these out in the street,” Baretta said. “It makes no sense, but with this mayor — there’s no enforcement, no oversight. I don’t know what they hell he’s doing.”

Open streets and restaurants has led to blowback blight

This is going to be a real change for anyone living on Cornelia Street, especially if these dining sheds permanent after the pandemic. There are 10 of them on this one tiny narrow block. Only a few are open right now, but the other ones are getting ready. ⁦⁦@ebottcher⁩ pic.twitter.com/NdIfVplBp8

— CentralVillageBA (@CVBA10014) March 12, 2021

 

Medium

Remake New York is the new buzzword for pundits and politicians. It envisions the post-pandemic city as a blank slate on which to try out cool new ideas. There’s nothing wrong with cool ideas but actual policy requires more than slogans and press releases. It requires planning. It requires expertise. It requires debate and public input.

Permanent outdoor dining is warning for what can go wrong when you remake New York on the fly. Beginning as a temporary measure designed to help restaurants survive the lockdown, the public took to outdoor dining right away. After a grim spring, when moving vans were more common than taxis, people loved the sight of the funky shacks, festooned with fake flowers and painted in gaudy colors, that were bringing life back to the streets.

Elected officials love popular programs, especially if the official has worn out his welcome. Mayor de Blasio jumped all over outdoor dining, declaring that it must “be part of city life for years to come.” Just a few weeks later his wish became an actual law mandating “the establishment of a permanent outdoor dining program” by October 1, 2021. In the blink of an eye, and with no debate, the city tossed out long-established policy, ignored long-established zoning restrictions and gave away public land — sidewalks and roadways—to private businesses.

Local Law 114 is a textbook example of how not to make policy. At a single hastily convened hearing, members of the City Council tossed softballs to representatives of the restaurant industry and Business Improvement Districts. Representatives of the neighborhoods impacted by the new law were nowhere to be found. The official voice of these neighborhoods, Community Boards, didn’t learn what was in the bill until after it had passed.

The one saving grace of this whole misbegotten process was that the city had an entire year before the permanent program took effect. One would think that the Mayor and City Council would have used that time for due diligence on a program they’d cobbled together so quickly. Instead, elected officials took the three-monkeys approach: neither seeing, hearing and certainly not speaking of the problems that came with outdoor dining.