DINING IN THE GUTTER IS HERE TO STAY!
May 22, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Residents Outraged as NYC City Council Prepares to Wreck Neighborhoods with
Lobbyist-Driven Permanent Outdoor Dining Legislation
Community Leaders Call on City Council Members of Conscience to Kill Bill 31-B
New York, NY (May 22, 2023) Last week, the NYC City Council released a new version of the outdoor dining legislation that they’ve been crafting in backroom meetings with industry and special-interest lobbyists.
Intro 31B serves as a stark reminder of who is really in charge within the council chambers. Lobbyists had multiple seats at the table, residents had none.
Not a single public hearing was held on 31B, or its predecessor 31A – while political insiders and special interests lobbyists are bragging about how they have manipulated the Mayor and City Council. Democratic majority leader Keith Power spoke of “months of tricky discussions.” Open Plans director Sara Lind thanked all those who worked “diligently behind the scenes." And Hospitality Alliance chief Andrew Rigie crowed about how “two years of discussions and negotiations with the Mayor’s administration and the City Council” allowed his legal counsel to write the legislation.
The result of those two years of backroom dealings: a bill that grants the hospitality industry and bike lobbyists nearly unrestricted control over every inch of New York sidewalks and streets. This neighborhood-wrecking legislation doesn’t even leave crumbs on the floor for residents who once generously gave their support to local restaurants. Even a quick read reveals the damage Intro 31B will wreak on New Yorkers’ quality of life.
Intro 31-B is anywhere and everywhere legislation. Any restaurant can open a sidewalk or roadway cafe anywhere it wants. There are no caps on how many outdoor dining setups can be on any block. The sky’s the limit! And the legislation makes no distinction at all between commercial corridors and small residential side streets where people live and sleep – or tried to sleep at night.
Restaurants can have amplified music until 12:00 midnight everywhere and anywhere. Who cares if kids, elders, and working people never get a single night of sleep? Not our elected officials who apparently don't care if people have to get up to go to work at 6AM on less than 8 hours of sleep.
Only roadbed dining is seasonal and, according to the City Council, “seasonal” is bizarrely defined as 8 months. Roadway dining set-ups will have heavy barriers. So our streets will now be swept only in the winter months. That summer scent of garbage and standing water? Look forward to more!
The Department of Transportation which has thoroughly bungled the temporary pandemic open restaurants program for the last three years, will be fully in charge of running the permanent program, controlling the licensing, and setting new rules. Yep. The same agency that failed to enforce any of the temporary rules for the last three years.
Restaurant fees for use of public space will start at $5 per square foot annually — less than the price of just one latte — while the mayor is gutting the budgets of libraries, senior centers, pre-K, and public schools.
And 31B keeps the plastic and plywood sheds on our streets until November 2024.
Put it all together: Intro 31B highlights the distressing reality that the Mayor and City Council are more responsive to the demands of special interest groups than to the concerns and well-being of the people they are elected to serve.
Residents are now calling on City Council Members with any conscience to Kill Bill 31B.
Contact:
Stu Waldman | 646-823-3056
Leif Arntzen | 917-930-8508
Kathy Arntzen | 917-821-2591
Email: cueup.ny@gmail.com