FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JUNE 4, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
сoronavirus
City Council bill would allow outdoor
dining on sidewalks and streets
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e City Council introduced a new bill
to allow outdoor dining on sidewalks,
streets and other open spaces on May
28, aiming to give restaurateurs a lifeline
to serve customers al fresco and at
a safe social distance amid the COVID-
19 pandemic, according to Speaker Corey
Johnson.
“As New Yorkers we have so much to
brag about, but our city’s amazing and
diverse restaurants are really at the top
of everyone’s list, which is why we must
do everything we can to help this iconic,
diverse, and now struggling industry get
through this incredibly painful and diffi -
cult time,” Johnson said at a digital press
conference Th ursday.
If it were signed into law, the bill,
co-signed by the speaker and 10 fellow
city legislators, would allow restaurants,
bars and food vendors to apply with the
city to use public or private open space
for seating.
According to one city legislator, the
lawmakers pushed for the move aft er
Mayor Bill de Blasio failed to provide a
plan to institute outdoor seating, which
has become common in other cities in
the United States and Europe, as governments
try to help ailing businesses during
the pandemic.
“When it comes to open space and
just streets in general, I personally don’t
have the confi dence that the mayor has
really been an outside-the-box thinker
about rethinking street space,” said
Williamsburg Councilman Antonio
Reynoso, a co-sponsor of the bill. In
his daily press conference on Th ursday,
Hizzoner noted that restaurants going
back to serving patrons on-site was not
part of the fi rst phase of the city’s reopening,
which he expects to happen in the
fi rst half of June — and expressed his
“hope” that an outdoor dining service
plan could be put in place soon.
“Th is is not a phase one thing, going to
say this clear as a bell,” de Blasio said. “But
we’re going to be working constantly with
that industry to see what makes sense.
And I’m hopeful that outdoors can be a
big part of that solution.”
But Johnson, a 2021 mayoral candidate,
said that the city should expedite implementation
of that framework, so bureaucrats
and businesses can hit the ground
running once they reach a later stage of
the reopening.
“We have to start this work right now,
we should not wait any further because we
want to be ready for when it’s actually possible
to do this type of work and we have
to get it right,” he said.
Th e proposed law would have the
Department of Transportation locate suitable
spaces across the city for outdoor
Rockwell Group
seating — including sidewalks, pedestrian
plazas, on-street parking, or other privately
owned spaces with the consent of
the owners.
Johnson said that eateries could use
models provided by Manhattan architect
David Rockwell, who has worked with the
nonprofi t the NYC Hospitality Alliance to
design templates for restaurants and bars.
A template of sidewalk and street seating
by architects at Rockwell Group.
(Rockwell Group) Businesses will have
to apply to the Department of Consumer
Aff airs — the agency which provides sidewalk
cafe permits — to use one of these
DOT-designated spaces, while also following
guidance on social distancing and
health and safety regulations which the
Department of Health will formulate.
Restaurants with sidewalks that would
already be allowed to set up seating under
the city’s zoning laws can also apply with
the DCA to use the space without having
to go through the usual public process
involving presentations to community
boards.
Th e temporary permits would expire by
Oct. 31 or when social distancing restrictions
are lift ed, whichever comes fi rst,
according to the bill. Th e bill also states
that the DOT must post the locations they
choose online and update the sites at least
once a week.
One Bedford-Stuyvesant restaurant
owner slammed the bill, which puts the
onus on city transportation gurus to designate
which spaces are eligible for sidewalk
cafes, arguing that law changes
should make it easier for them to apply
for and set up their own al fresco seating
rather than wait on city agencies to decide
where they can and can’t move outside.
“Waiting for the city, that’s a joke. We
need to have real tools and we need to
have them now,” said Charlotta Janssen,
the owner of Chez Oskar on Malcom X
Boulevard, who has previously pushed
for opening public space for dining. Th e
speaker said on Th ursday that stakeholders
can still lobby with DOT for locations,
including business improvement districts,
community boards and associations representing
establishments, adding that he
hopes choosing sites can be collaborative.
However, the legislation does not have
any provision for business owners to individually
propose sites to the agency, or
to set them up and receive permits aft er
the fact. Janssen said she does not have
the time to wait on the city to designate
her corner at Decatur Street viable for
outdoor seating, and that representatives
should get rid of the bureaucracy involved
in getting the permits, rather than creating
new hurdles.
“Th ey’re like, ‘Oh we’re going to cut this
red tape and put in new red tape,’” she
said. “Just give us a few rules and we can
do it and you can come by and sign off on
it. Make it an easy process.”
At long last, New York City ‘on track’ for June 8 reopening
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
New York City, the last closed region
of New York state during the COVID-19
pandemic, fi nally has a projected reopening
date. Governor Andrew Cuomo
announced Friday aft ernoon that the
city’s on track to begin the fi rst reopening
phase on Monday, June 8.
Cuomo said the state and city governments
will be working over the next
week to continue a concentrated eff ort
to further reduce COVID-19 infections
in hotspots located across the Bronx,
Brooklyn and Queens.
Th ey will also be working to get contract
tracers online and distribute further
PPE and masks. Th e MTA will also
be preparing subways and buses over the
next week to increase scheduled service,
Cuomo added.
Th e reopening is not a return to the pre-
COVID-19 world, but a new normal in
which more than 400,000 workers at the
start will be returning to duty with various
health precautions in place.
“Remember that reopening does not
mean we’re going back to the way things
work. It’s going to be diff erent,” Cuomo
said. “It’s reopening to a new safer normal.
People will be wearing masks and socially
distanced. It’s just a new way of interacting,
which is what we have to do.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who joined
Cuomo for the announcement via video,
said both the city and state were confi dent
by the progress made to pinpoint a tentative
reopening date.
“When I talked to the people of the city
this morning, I told them the indicators
were absolutely moving in the right direction,”
de Blasio said, “but the key to getting
to the point of defi nition for Phase 1
came from the collaboration to get on the
same page and make sure we were confi -
dent that this was the right time to do it.”
Under Phase 1, construction and light
manufacturing will be permitted to resume.
Retailers will also be able to open to customers
for curbside delivery. All workers
and customers will be required to wear a
mask and practice social distancing. Photo via Getty Images.
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