Sara Lind Testimony: Open Plans

Outdoor dining is a vibrant use of public space that New Yorkers and restaurants love, and we were excited to see the program codified, but we have serious concerns about flaws in the present program.

You've heard over and over again about the lack of a year-round option, which has drastically lowered participation.

As you've heard, thousands in additional costs to take down store and set up structures.

Restaurants don't have the space to store materials over the winter months.

I think you know, having this permanent program and the way that restaurants are now really opting in and intentionally participating.

I think we will see the restaurants that choose to use an outdoor dining option year-round that will be much more intentional about that with the new uh design uh regulations.

Um, we expect to see uh those concerns um addressed.

Furthermore, there's no logical reason why we would allow sidewalk cafes year-round, but not roadway dining.

Um, New Yorkers want to eat outside on a nice day any time of the year, whether it be on the sidewalk or in the roadway.

Um, and many New Yorkers, speaking of accessibility, are still dealing with health issues that they want to be able to eat outside and not inside.

So we encourage the council to amend the legislation to provide a year-round option.

Cecil just mentioned the existing frontage regulations, which limit participation from restaurants with smaller storefronts.

Again, during the temporary program, restaurants were allowed to make agreements with neighboring businesses to extend the footprint of their outdoor dining structure.

For small restaurants, it just doesn't make sense right now unless they can do that.

Finally, we believe the current program incentivizes sidewalk cafes over roadway cafes.

And while sidewalk cafes are an important part of the vibrant public realm, they do create challenges on crowded sidewalks.

And many restaurants also don't even have a wide enough sidewalk in front to participate in the sidewalk cafe program.

So the city needs to make these amendments to the program to ensure that the roadway cafe program is just as successful as the sidewalk program.

Yes, please.

They're brief.

The first is year-round roadway cafes.

We believe that that will make the program more accessible, affordable, and give businesses the ability to invest in beautiful creative structures that are high quality and include the higher materials and building standards that have been part of the dining out NYC program.

An example of that is the water-filled barriers that are not the rat burrows that the sand and dirt barriers were in the temporary program.

We would like to see more assistance from the city so that restaurants don't feel the need to hire private expediters to feel confident in their application.

We would like to see more flexibility in sighting and the availability of waivers for those that had sidewalk or roadway cafes so located during open restaurants or in the prior sidewalk cafe program with no safety issues.

We would like to track the dining out dining out NYC usage by neighborhood with an eye to increase participation in areas with low participation rates, and that assistance could include things like targeted technical support, waived application fees, or upfront grants to help mitigate the upfront costs of starting with dining out NYC.

Finally, we would love to see the city identifying neighborhoods where dining out NYC is going well, that would be well suited to increase pedestrianization to create dining out NYC districts that combine additional open space with formal encouragement and promotion of dining out NYC to be a draw for locals and tourists alike.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you to the panel.

We'll now hear from Charlotta Jansen, Kevin, Mulligan, Dior St.

Hilaire.

So I'm Charlotta Jansen of Shea Oscar and Bedsty.