Max Bookman Testimony: NYC Hospitality Alliance
Max Bookman, Partner at a licensing law firm, shares his experience managing over 200 DOT outdoor dining applications and describes the process as overly confusing and frustrating for business owners.
My wife and I are raising our two kids there.
My daughter goes to PS 158, and we are avid, enthusiastic outdoor dining participants.
I'm one of the several million people in New York City who enthusiastically support the notion of outdoor dining and want to see it succeed.
When I'm not at home, I'm a partner at a law firm, and for the last 10 years of my legal career, I've represented bars, restaurants, and other businesses in various licensing matters, including before the Department of Consumer Affairs, before they changed the name, uh, as well as now the Department of Transportation.
Um, before you hear from the voices of some of the restaurant owners who've come to testify before you today, I just wanted to share with you uh a common theme that we we couldn't bring all, you know, hundreds of bars and restaurant owners who participate in this program and are frustrated.
And my firm alone, I'm responsible for managing over 200 DOT outdoor dining applications.
So I'm there in the trenches.
If any of the members uh have any questions that are detail-oriented about what it's like in the trenches of the DOT application process, I'm happy to answer them.
But one common theme that we hear, you'll hear today, but we hear from bar and restaurant owners throughout this process is that it's just too confusing.
It's just too frustrating and too confusing.
The various steps are too confusing, the the information that they get from the agency is too confusing.
Um, how it interacts with the state liquor authority is too confusing.
Um I have a law degree, it's my job to know this stuff.
It's confusing for me to be able to explain this process to my clients in in ways that they understand.
Bar and restaurant owners, it's not their job to have to understand how this process works.
It's their job to run a bar or a restaurant and be successful business people, employ staff and make a living for them and to contribute to their community.
Um, everyone has had to become experts in this process in a way that they really shouldn't have to.
Um, so to echo some of the prior comments that you've heard.
Let's all roll up our sleeves, work together, not point fingers, acknowledge that there's a problem, and see what we could do to fix the problem.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Chrisette Woods, and I am the second generation owner of Sylvia's restaurant, which has been serving the Harlem community since 1962.