Manhattan, NY – Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick was joined this morning at 120 Broadway, office of the New York City Department of City Planning, by Assemblymember Harvey Epstein; Manhattan Community Board 2 Chair Jeannine Kiely; Manhattan Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer; Manhattan Community Board 1 Chair Tammy Meltzer; City Council District 1 Candidate Christopher Marte; and Leslie Clark of the West Village Residents Association to speak out against the Citywide Permanent Open Restaurants Text Amendment.

As the City Planning Commission hears testimony today regarding the Citywide Permanent Open Restaurants Text Amendment which would give the as-of-right allowance to many restaurants seeking sidewalk café space without local community board review, individuals from all over New York City have spoken out against the wholesale ceding of public space to one private industry. This citywide text amendment will negatively affect communities where restaurants and bars are already dense and create an unmanageable program throughout the city. At present, the Department of Transportation is overseeing the temporary program, but the current Administration has not released plans for how enforcement will be handled under the Permanent Open Restaurants Text Amendment. The current regulations which exist for sidewalk cafés provide an appropriate backstop against the harmful quality of life intrusions which come with late night dining in dense, mixed use communities.

“We feel that ceding public space to one industry for commercial use that can only be enjoyed by those who can afford to use it, and without any community review or input, is just plain wrong. While New Yorkers accepted the temporary measures during the worst parts of the pandemic in order to support restaurants which are vital to our economy, it is wrong to bypass local community review and give up public spaces which will be difficult to get back. I am opposed to this text amendment and call on the City Planning Commission to deny this measure. We must ensure that limitations which consider the public space use of our sidewalks and the interactions between restaurants and residents be upheld,” said Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick.

“We want restaurants to thrive in New York and we want community members to be able to live peacefully in their neighborhoods. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. As written, the City’s Open Restaurants proposal, which is based on a program developed on an emergency basis, is not ready to be permanent. Until the City presents a community-backed plan to address the noise, garbage, accessibility concerns, the proposal cannot move forward. I urge the City to reevaluate its zoning text amendment in light of the recommendations from the affected communities,” said Assemblymember Harvey Epstein.

“In a city with nearly 9 million people and diverse neighborhoods, a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. CB2 Manhattan has the most open restaurants citywide. This creates grave concerns for our local residents about noise, trash, rats, safety and accessibility as well as the overwhelming density of open restaurants in our mixed-use residential neighborhoods,” said Jeannine Kiely, Chair of Manhattan Community Board 2.

“The proposed text amendment will throw out years of residential zoning protections for our residents. One size does not fit all for New York City – Community Board 3 has 535 nonconforming lots – this will allow potentially hundreds of outdoor dining on sidewalks and streetbeds under our bedroom windows. Zoning is a balance between the public good and private property rights, but this proposed amendment does not balance or even consider residents and their needs – it pits our families and local restaurants against each other. Noise complaints from restaurants have gone up 87% since COVID, there are more rats, more garbage, and a lot more noise. Our residents complain that nobody cares about them. The proposed amendment is completely lacking in details of the final plan and lacks guarantees that business applications will come before the community for recommendations. We are being asked to vote for an amendment that is lacking in design and guidelines for sidewalk cafes and roadbed sheds,” said Susan Stetzer, District Manager of Manhattan Community Board 3.

“Manhattan Community Board 1 voted in plurality to oppose this text amendment application. This process is inherently flawed, as it forces Community Boards to vote on eliminating decades of time tested zoning regulations, to replace it with a process that hasn't yet been determined. City Planning and The Mayor's Office are asking the public to have faith they will figure out the program framework and how to enforce the rules, but they have not been able to demonstrate this with any type of consistency during the temporary program which is extended until at least 2022. CB1 is extremely troubled by the voluminous concerns raised including, but not limited to: accessibility, equity, inclusion, privatization of the public realm, resilience measures, climate change solutions, support of small businesses, extended sidewalks, green streets, and public art that have gone unanswered with this proposal. Planning changes of this scale should have started on the community level for maximum public engagement, instead of with lobbyists behind closed doors. Further, CB1 believes this application is being rushed forward with untoward urgency without enough merit or engagement with the public regarding the use of public space. We urge the CPC to take community feedback under careful consideration. Removing large swaths of zoning is a drastic measure, and we must be certain about what will replace it before moving forward,” said Tammy Meltzer, Chair of Community Board 1.

“What we have here is a lame-duck mayor conducting the biggest ‘going out of business’ sale in New York history. On the auction floor: all of New York’s public sidewalks and all of New York’s public streets – going to just one industry for its private profit,” said Leslie Clark of the West Village Residents Association.

“Permanent Open Restaurants and the rezoning text amendments are predatory solutions looking for a non-existent privileged problem. Privatizing public space used by 8 million citizens for one industry's benefit is a permanent sacrifice of residential life and business diversity - a forever commitment to hardships, unlivable and unenforceable conditions. #sunsetthesheds,” said Shannon Phipps of the Berry Street Alliance in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

“While allowing outdoor dining as an emergency measure to aid struggling restaurants was welcome, making the program broadly permanent is not advisable or desirable in too many locations. The Mayor’s plan is lacking in the details and elements needed to ensure that these outdoor eating and drinking structures don’t conflict with residential uses, leave adequate space for pedestrians, don’t become eyesores, don’t become safety hazards, and don’t violate historic preservation regulations. This plan needs to go back to the drawing board,” said Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Village Preservation.

“On behalf of Moving Forward Unidos, we are dismayed at the lack of process of giving our city streets to one industry permanently. As the city exists today, there is a lack of enforcement of many rules and regulations, put in place, so that all the citizenry may enjoy the city and the quiet enjoyment of their homes. Giving the regulation of Open Restaurants to the Department of Transportation, which has proved unable to regulate the emergency Open Restaurants is a big mistake. The move to give the liquor/night life industry our streets and sidewalks is rushed and does not take all resident, working, tax-paying New Yorkers into account,” said Nancy Preston and Katherine O’Sullivan of Moving Forward Unidos.