The delays have kept many restaurants from setting up tables and chairs outside, as the seasonal roadway dining program returned last month following a four-month winter pause, enacted by the Council in 2023 under then-Speaker Adrienne Adams and signed off by former Mayor Eric Adams.<\/p>\n
There are currently just 1,119 outdoor dining setups with full approvals, including 616 roadway and 503 sidewalk caf\u00e9s, according to the latest city public data<\/a>. Most of them are<\/a> in Manhattan and wealthier parts of Brooklyn, similar to the more restrictive pre-pandemic sidewalk caf\u00e9 program. <\/p>\n An additional 1,114 are \u201cotherwise allowed to operate,\u201d including via conditional approvals, according to a DOT spokesperson. Another 919 establishment are \u201ccurrently working through the requirements\u201d and aren\u2019t authorized, including 670 that are \u201con pause,\u201d because they haven\u2019t provided legally required information, the rep added. <\/p>\n \u201cThese participation numbers show exactly what we warned about: seasonality and a lengthy, bureaucratic approval process are making it harder for restaurants to participate,\u201d said DOT rep Will Livingston in a statement. \u201cThe City Council should act quickly to reform the outdoor dining law and remove unnecessary hurdles that lengthen the application process and deter participation.\u201d<\/p>\n The last city leadership hamstrung the popular initiative by banning roadway caf\u00e9s in December, January, February and March to hand the curb space back to personal car parking, while allowing sidewalk setups year-round. The Council also legislated<\/a> many new layers of bureaucracy and outside interventions<\/a> on top of that, including by local Council members and the city\u2019s often parking-obsessed community boards.<\/p>\n The number of participating restaurants has plummeted from a high of around 6,000-8,000 during the temporary pandemic program, and Council Speaker Julie Menin vowed to bring back<\/a> year-round roadway dining, which Mamdani also supports. A rep for Menin said the Council will wait until a city environmental review of full-year outdoor dining concludes in August, meaning September would be the earliest lawmakers can pass legislation. <\/p>\n \u201cSpeaker Menin strongly supports expanding outdoor dining into a year-round program that better serves both New Yorkers and the small businesses that help make our neighborhoods vibrant,\u201d said Henry Robins, a spokesman for the speaker, said in a statement. \u201cA permanent, well-designed program can help restaurants generate additional revenue, reduce storage costs, and continue activating streetscapes across the city.\u201d<\/p>\n Restaurant industry officials have called on the mayor to grant conditional permits for businesses stuck in the bureaucratic morass.<\/p>\n One Brooklyn wine bar owner filed an application late last year to set up a few tables and chairs on the sidewalk, and is still waiting on the approval after going through community board and Council reviews. <\/p>\n The restaurateur already went ahead and set up tables and chairs in recent warmer weeks anyway, given that it adds 30 percent more revenue on nice days. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work for something that could be a simple application,\u201d said the bar owner, who asked to remain anonymous. \u201cIt\u2019s literally three tables outside of your store.\u201d<\/p>\n A different Brooklyn bar owner, who filed his paperwork for a roadway caf\u00e9 as soon as the program opened up in the spring of 2024, didn\u2019t get his approval until eight months later.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s like nine different steps in the process, and it seems like there\u2019s months between the steps,\u201d said Sam Goetz, who runs Judy\u2019s in Sunset Park. \u201cIt takes them like months between cashing a check and telling you it\u2019s cashed.\u201d<\/p>\n Some restaurants have been waiting for more than a year, the Post reported this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n Livingston blamed the long timeline on steps outside of the agency\u2019s control that he said can stretch the process by six to nine months or more. Community boards and City Council members have 40 and 45 days, respectively, to review roadway dining applications.<\/p>\n DOT also has to hold a public hearing for every roadway caf\u00e9, while community boards can trigger<\/a> a hearing for sidewalk setups as well if they recommend denying their application.<\/p>\n DOT Chief Communications Officer Nick Benson said it was the law as written, not DOT, holding up the process.<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t a backlog. Businesses are just stuck in this morass or can\u2019t be approved because they haven\u2019t supplied the mound of paperwork required under the law,\u201d Benson said in a post on X.<\/p>\n The problem is an outdoor dining law that works for nobody<\/p>\n Putting chairs on the sidewalk or roadway shouldn\u2019t require going to: DOT, community boards, city council, MOCS, the comptroller, and a public hearing, etc.<\/p>\n There isn\u2019t a backlog. Businesses are just stuck in this\u2026<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Adrienne-Adams-vetoes.jpg\")
Former Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is now running for Lt. Governor, passed the onerous regulations that DOT says are holding up hundreds of outdoor dining permits. Photo: John McCarten\/NYC Council Media Unit<\/p>\n\n