Outdoor dining has been providing a huge lift to struggling restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic and now New York City Council is mulling over whether to make it permanent.
No one argues that the restaurants and their workers suffered considerably with lost wages and revenues during the COVID shutdown when indoor dining was not allowed. The temporary emergency program to save restaurants started during the summer of 2020 with outdoor seating on sidewalks and roadway sheds, allowing for a safer environment for New Yorkers to dine out during the pandemic.
Shannon Phipps, a member of the CUEUP (Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy)
Coalition who heads the Berry Street Alliance, says those restaurants sheds are now a curse and she is strongly against that proposal that's expected to get a final vote from the City Council later this week.
Phipps spoke to WBGO Journal host Doug Doyle about the concerns that prompted a "Chuck The Sheds" rally earlier this month.
"Well the sheds as we know are hazardous and they've becomes sites of hazards in our neighborhood. We are also working with CUEUP New York City. They have it even worse than we do because they are in Manhattan. These sheds have been sites were rodents like to get to make nests. They get into the planters. They have a normal stream of food to eat, they have water because of the standing water. When the diners leave, they crawl all over the tables and the chairs. The backyards in this area are infested with rats which has never happened before."
Phipps says the Alliance's concerns go past the infestation issue.
"It's not that just the sheds being a hazardous condition is something that we're contesting. Our issue is that the city did not do an environmental impact study and that is required by law. If you're going to make City changes at this level, you have to do an environmental impact study. This is a land use issue, a zoning issue."
Phipps stresses members of the Berry Street Alliance have had "undesirable conversations" with restaurants owners.
"About the crowds, the cigarette smoking, the noise, the amplified music. I would say that 95 percent, if not 98 percent, of the restaurants here are violating the guidelines that were presented by the DOT. So neighbors have had to go to restaurants and ask them to not amplify music. You can see this all throughout the district in Greenpoint and Williamsburg where restaurants have hard-wired speakers outside of their restaurants. Where it becomes a cacophony of hell is when you have two restaurants next to each other doing the same thing."
Andrew Rigie with the New York City Hospitality Alliance says the recent coronavirus surge is still having a big impact on city restaurants.
“People are canceling holiday parties, canceling reservations, workers getting sick, calling out of work. It’s just another blow to the restaurant industry that had yet to even recover."
The Hospitality Alliance is asking city and state lawmakers to take a series of steps to help the industry. They include bringing back the alcohol-to-go policy, sending COVID test kits to restaurants and having government provide sick pay to restaurant employees.
Earlier this month, protestors gathered at Bleecker and 6th to voice their anger over how these sheds have severely impacted the quality of life in the Village. Phipps, who believes the issue may already be determined in favor of the restaurants, thinks the rally created much needed awareness of the problems.
"There has been this feeling by the community that deals have been made, decisions have been made and we're all the last to know about it."
Phipps doesn't think the community's concerns about outdoor dining have been addressed.
"They have insured throughout the COVID period that the top franchises have profited from this at the expense of their employees. None of this money that was used to help the restaurants was earmarked for payroll for workers. Their wages did not rise, their health benefits did not rise. They had an opportunity to negotiate those terms and they flat out said no."
