Permanent outdoor dining needs support
COURIER L 20 IFE, OCTOBER 8-14, 2021
EDITORIAL
OP-ED
As if New York City’s
gun violence epidemic
weren’t bad enough, the
bad guys have found a new way
to shoot people: ghost guns.
Sounding like something
out of a bad sci-fi
film on basic cable, ghost
guns are actually firearms
that often come in the
form of do-it-yourself kits.
The buyer then assembles
the weapon much like putting
together a model boat,
but this is no facsimile of
a gun: it’s the real thing,
and it’s lethal.
The danger behind
ghost guns, as Senator
Chuck Schumer said Sunday,
lies in the ease by
which anyone can buy and
use them. There’s no regulation
on ghost guns of
any kind. They lack serial
numbers.
And individuals who
are legally barred from
owning an actual firearm
— such as ex-felons and
those with mental illness
— can get around the law
and acquire a ghost gun.
The NYPD has made
thousands of gun arrests
this year, more than they
have in decades. Working
with prosecutors, they’re
also trying to cut off the
infamous “iron pipeline”
that gun smugglers use
to import weapons into
New York City from other
states with lax gun laws.
Difficult as it is to track
down, the NYPD is also
working to get ghost guns
off the streets, too. This
year, cops have seized 135
of these weapons, just 10
fewer than the 145 taken off
the streets last year, with
three months to go in 2021.
But the NYPD is going
to need more help than
that to help stop more
ghost guns from creeping
into the city. That will require
federal and state intervention.
Sitting on Governor
Kathy Hochul’s desk are
two bills that specifically
ban the sale of ghost gun
kits. The administration
told the New York Times
last month that the legislation
was still under
review, but we think it’s
time for Hochul to put her
pen to the paper and take
an important step toward
getting these phantom
firearms off the streets.
The Biden administration
must also change
the classification of ghost
guns as firearms, closing
a Justice Department
loophole that currently
protects ghost gun manufacturers.
Ideally, Congress would
step in with legislation
to outlaw ghost guns, but
such attempts to institute
new gun control measures
have been futile, despite
the inherent danger to the
public and the police officers
who protect them.
Ghost guns must be removed
from society, lest
their users make ghosts
out of others.
The killer ghosts
BY CHARLOTTA JANSSEN
2020 was our worst year,
but for every door that shuts,
a window opens — and as
much as my colleagues’ and
mine were shut abruptly, an
unexpected window of opportunity
opened.
On March 16, 2020, auxiliary
police offi cers came by
my restaurant, Chez Oskar,
ordering us to close. Angelique
Calmet-Strakker, Oskar’s
General Manager since
2012, Octavio Simancas, the
chef since 1999, and I were
devastated. Our bistro of 21
years was dying fast.
In April of 2020, the
streets became a ghost town.
Ambulances, ice trucks, losing
friends of friends, then
friends. At Oskar, we stapled
shop towels to rubber bands —
one of many makeshift masks
we would come to wear.
We were forced to work
with third-party delivery
apps, who seek to extract everything
they can from the
businesses they work with.
A friend of mine called and
asked, “Are you OK?” My response:
a tirade of expletives.
He again: “We need to get to
work on a citywide outdoor
dining program that includes
restaurants like yours, that
lost their commercial zoning
years ago.”
“GREAT!” I answered.
He knew I’d been trying for
years with other restaurants
to get our establishments rezoned
so that we could use our
sidewalk for commercial purposes.
Alone, it would cost us
each about $100,000 and take
two years with no certain outcome.
I had been sending local
offi cials a dotted map of restaurants
without commercial
overlay, vying for their support
of outdoor dining for all of
us, but hadn’t made progress.
I’d lost the commercial
overlay in 2006. I wasn’t alone.
Diminishing commercial corridors
helps big developers
claim blight and get lower interest
loans and tax breaks to
build big boxes. It coincided
with the quintupling of outdoor
dining fees, making sidewalk
cafes an exclusive club.
I circulated the dotted
map again, this time broader.
On May 15, Brooklyn Borough
President Adams wrote
an open letter to Mayor Bill
de Blasio supporting outdoor
dining immediately for all
restaurants, regardless of
zoning issues. The window
had cracked open.
I pounded the pavement.
About 30 of us “outcasts”
came together through Bed-
Stuy and Central Brooklyn,
fi ghting to be included in the
emergency outdoor dining
program. We posted a video
and testifi ed to be added in.
City Council approved. Applications
were easy. For a city
that usually is a tight ball of
red tape, this was a miracle.
Our fi rst outdoor dining
set-up was socially distant tables
and a thin bamboo separation.
Soon, we had to fortify
structures, then we got tents,
then corrugated clear, then
radiant heat. The rules constantly
changed. Every day
was a rollercoaster: fi ll out
forms, fi ght the elements, fi x
violations. It was a long winter
with makeshift carports,
shutdowns, and re-openings.
In May of 2021, Angelique
and I were yearning for a more
aesthetic, welcoming, and permanent
structure. We concocted
a modern take on Art
Nouveau in steel and clear.
It made sense: Oskar is landmarked
and French. To this
day the structure (now covered
in morning glory and wisteria)
has survived three tropical
systems. Our sidewalk is
much more communal.
In total, 11,500 restaurants
have participated in
the outdoor dining program
since its inception, including
2,500 “grandfathered” restaurants
like mine, which could
never serve outdoors prior.
Some though, after getting
violations accompanied by
the threat to revoke licenses,
gave up on outdoor dining.
You only get 24 hours to cure.
I am heartened about the
proposed text amendment to
remove the commercial zoning
requirement for restaurants
to serve outdoors. Restaurants
are a critical part
of the economy, employing 10
percent of New Yorkers. We
saw during the pandemic how
important they are to communities.
Outdoor spaces,
heated and cooled, were gathering
spaces through the year
for weary New Yorkers.
The next challenge: creating
encouraging rules to fi ght
“ugly” and inequity, streamlining
the program permanently
and making it accessible
to all, encouraging small
business to make the investments
that refl ect outdoor
dining as a community asset.
This means more thoughtful
design considering every use
and user of the sidewalk.
To support smarter, more
innovative rules and standards
that bolster beauty and
enhance functionality, I have
collected and shared recommendations
with the Regional
Plan Association and
Department of City Planning,
among them: allowing for
year-round structures that
accommodate all users of the
sidewalk and fair pricing.
The restaurant industry
was not adequately consulted
on delivery app caps, indoor
dining reopening dates, or
the overnight cutoff of “to go
liquor” — all of which were
well-meant and half-assed. We
restaurants have over a year’s
worth of useful information.
Don’t shut us out. Hear us out!
Charlotta Janssen has
owned Chez Oskar since 1998.