City Council Holds Hearing on ‘Disastrous’ Dining Shed Rollout

The City Council convened an impassioned hearing on the state of NYC’s revamped dining shed program on April 22, which attracted frustrated testimony from restaurateurs and hospitality industry advocates who find new Department of Transportation regulations far too onerous.

This view is seemingly shared by Upper East Side City Council Member Julie Menin, who sponsored the hearing alongside Queens City Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers. “We would like to learn how we can improve application processing times and the user-friendliness of the application process,” Menin said, later adding that “this rollout . . . has been nothing short of disastrous.”

Indeed, the DOT had only received 3,900 applications for the new program by the April 1 deadline, down from a projected citywide peak of 12,000 sheds—some at the same restaurant—over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many applicants had not fully completed the process, which comes with a variety of fees and structural regulations, by the deadline; this led the DOT to provide conditional approval as they review ongoing applications. Sidewalk sheds are now allowed to stay up year-round, while roadway sheds must come down between November and April.

Brooks-Powers called attention to such delays during her time at the mic: “As of [April 10], just 60 restaurants, less than 2 percent of the applications received by DOT, completed the entire outdoor dining application process and received revocable consent to operate a sidewalk or roadway cafe, which equates to less than 2 percent of the 3,400 applications received by DOT.”

”Although conditional approvals have been granted, this process is still not where it should be. Businesses have also reported issues with the application process including having to fill out onerous online forms and a lack of language accessibility,” she added. “We have also received complaints about additional costs associated with the program setup regulations and the required seasonality of the program.”

Andrew Rigie, who heads the Hospitality Alliance, a prominent restaurant trade group, testified that “New York City still has the potential to build a world-class outdoor dining program, but only if the city leaders collectively come together and . . . propose and enact reforms.” Failing to do so, he said would “squander” a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” that would benefit a variety of economic stakeholders.

Margaret Forgione, who was defending the DOT’s handling of the new regulations, said that the agency was being proactive about helping applicants complete the process: “When an application is incomplete or includes errors, our staff doesn’t just reject the application. We work with applicants to help them achieve approval.”

Crucially, some applicants showed up to highlight what reforms they would like to see. Kevin Mulligan, who runs a bar called The Laurels in the East Village, said that “the one egregious major flaw with the new rules is it forbids the use of enclosed sidewalk cafes.”

This was a problem, he explained, because exposure to the elements negates the benefits of keeping them up year-round. “In Ireland, we have a saying that I think you have here too: ‘Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining,’ ” Mulligan said. “It is usually raining in Ireland.” It certainly rains in NYC as well.

Not everybody opposed the new regulations for the same reasons, however. A few locals argued that the real issue was the fact that dining sheds have not been entirely regulated out of existence. John Grimes, who identified himself as a 35-year-old resident of the West Village, pointedly opposed “any change to the program that would loosen the rules or provide for year-round outdoor dining.”

“From my personal experience, my quality of life has been severely harmed by this program and the associated noise and drunken behavior from the establishment of my immediate neighbor,” said Grimes. He didn’t mention who that neighbor was.