Council Member Carr opposes roadway dining, supports Staten Island flag

Permission to explain my vote?

Permission granted.

Thank you, Majority Leader.

First, I want to begin by thanking the Speaker for those warm birthday messages.

I'm going to endeavor to stay at 39 for at least three more years, so thank you.

I also want to congratulate my colleague, Councilmember Frank Morano, on passing this important codification of Staten Island's flag.

The three of us, Camila, Frank, and I, do battle on behalf of our borough each and every day, along with our other Staten Island colleagues.

Now having a common unifying banner under which to do so is incredibly meaningful, as he indicated during his remarks.

But I'm here today mostly to speak about my opposition to the extension of the roadway dining legislation.

And my opposition is based on the same reason I voted against it several years ago, back in 2023, when we regularized the post-pandemic program.

And that's because it does not have the call-up option that we, at least for the moment, currently have for the Sidewalk Cafe program.

To me, having a member-driven process where community

and contextual judgments can be taken into account ensures that all roadway dining cafe applications moving forward would be ones that fit in with the community and ensures that members have leverage

in the engagement with the Department of Transportation and the executive branch.

to make sure that local opinion is not being ignored.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to include it in that legislation several years ago, and that's not changing anytime soon because it would be subject to a referendum requirement.

So in that vein, I'll be opposing this legislation today because

The only real decision maker remains the New York City Department of Transportation.

And quite frankly, over the last several years, the last several administrations, the DOT's approach to community engagement and stakeholder engagement exudes a snobbish elitism that frankly makes the most exclusive country club board of directors look humble.

So I will be opposing this legislation today, and I want to disclose on the record of the proceeding that in the transparency resolution before us today, we're funding the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, and I'm associated with that entity.

And I'll be voting no on introductions 655A with accompanying resolution 592, introduction 894A with accompanying resolution 605,

introduction 839A, introduction 864A, and resolution 595, and aye on the rest.

Thank you.

Abraiu.

Aye.

Speaker, a minute.

Aye on all.

Just give us one minute as we tally the votes.