The entrance to Community Restaurant at 2893 Broadway is shown. (Credit: Anna Kane)
Cooler temperatures might mean dining inside, but when popular Upper West Side restaurant Community removed its outdoor dining shed in September, it had little to do with the weather. In fact, it was in response to government mandates that dining sheds be dismantled in line with new policy. Those allowed to keep their shed longer face a Nov. 29 deadline to remove theirs.
In August, New York City restaurants were required to submit an application to join the “Dining out NYC” program to keep their sheds standing and operational. Under Mayor Eric Adams’ new permanent program, roadway dining is limited to eight months of the year, and businesses must pay thousands of dollars as a part of an application for outdoor dining spaces. The program, headed by the Department of Transportation, also provides step-by-step guides detailing how Roadway and Sidewalk Cafes should be operated.
In 2020, during a time of widespread pandemic-related rules that restricted indoor dining, former Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced an Open Restaurants program that allowed restaurants and bars to expand their outdoor seating onto the roadway. Though the program was a boon for local businesses, saving more than 90,000 jobs within three months according to the mayor’s office, it also allowed for the proliferation of pests.
In July 2022, a coalition of concerned city residents filed an Article 78 lawsuit demanding the shut-down of the Covid-era program, citing increased rat sightings as a reason. One of the plaintiffs, Douglas Armer, claimed in his affidavit that the sheds on his block “harbor vermin, collect food waste, and impede garbage collection.”
However, Adams’ new program is backed by Kathleen Corradi, the city’s rat czar and Director of Citywide Rodent Mitigation, who said at a press conference in February that the city is making spaces less hospitable to rats. “The Dining Out NYC program incorporates both the design and management elements that support a rat-free outdoor dining program”, she said.
Restaurants and bars that did not apply to be a part of the new government program face potential fines if their roadside sheds remained standing after August 3. “We’ve gotten some tickets for the stretcher that we used to have on the street,” said Henry Geller, manager of Community.
Though Community maintains a sidewalk cafe, a dining and seating space on the sidewalk rather than in the roadway, Geller explains the appeal of the roadway structures. “Some people really enjoy eating their meals on a deck-like structure, off of the sidewalk,” he said. “It’s a cool experience.”
Katrina Richter, a New York City resident who works at Book Culture on W. 114 St. and Broadway, appreciates outdoor dining sheds “If it’s nice out, it’s nice to sit outside and eat,” she said. “I understand the appeal.”
Another resident, Akiel Bridgewater, frequently enjoys dining al fresco, calling the new restrictions on outdoor dining “a shame.”
Other businesses like Community’s neighbor, French restaurant Le Monde, decided to apply for the new government program, enabling them to maintain their shed while their application is under review. However, come Nov. 29, Le Monde and others will need to dismantle their roadway structures, a potentially costly enterprise due to removal expenses.
Geller also weighed the costs involved in the application process versus fines when considering whether to apply for the scheme. “The tickets cost a couple thousand dollars,” he said, referring to the Unlicensed Setups penalties.”The cost of submitting the application is a couple of thousand dollars,” he said.
The Department of Transportation provides a breakdown of the multiple fees involved in applying to the new program. There is a non-refundable license fee of up to $2,100, a public hearing fee that the form claims “will generally not exceed $1,000,” a security deposit ($1,500 for a sidewalk cafe, $2,500 for a Roadway cafe), and finally a revocable consent fee based on a square-foot analysis of the space taken up by the set-up.
Perhaps a more pertinent problem for outdoor dining facilities is not financial, but rat-related. “I think that the structures that are up now, the way that a lot of them are designed, you can get rodents in there, it’s pretty gross,” Geller said.
“I mean, listen – dining outdoors in New York City, good luck to you,” Geller said. “If you wanna dine out in New York City outside on the sidewalk, doesn’t matter where you are, you’re gonna see some things that you might not wanna see.”
About the author(s)
Anna Kane is a British freelance journalist based in New York City. She has previously reported in Ukraine, and is interested in covering humanitarian issues.