City Council Speaker Julie Menin on Wednesday promised to overhaul New York City’s outdoor dining program — and indicated she wants to allow restaurants to set up street “sheds” 365 days a year.
“We are going to fix the outdoor dining program and make it year-round,” Menin said during a breakfast event hosted by the Association for a Better New York business group.
The roadway dining program, where restaurants can set up tables and structures in the streets, began as a pandemic emergency measure with little oversight. It eventually grew into a year-round affair that drew praise from restaurant owners and criticism from some community groups who griped that the sheds took up parking spaces and brought noise and rats. It’s separate from the city’s sidewalk dining program and the “Open Streets” program, which has also shrunk in recent years.
After years of political wrangling, the city under former Mayor Eric Adams imposed new rules and fees on the outdoor dining program. Starting in August 2024, businesses had to apply for the new Dining Out NYC program if they wanted to keep their outdoor setups. The new rules also required businesses to take down their sheds from late November to April 1.
The strict new requirements — along with city fees and sizable costs for building and deconstructing compliant structures every year — led to immediate outcry from business owners, and participation in the new program dropped precipitously.
At any given point during the pandemic, between 6,000 and 8,000 restaurants had outdoor setups, according to the city Department of Transportation, which oversees the program. At the end of its first full season, which ended Nov. 29, there were 849 roadway “sheds” and 1,973 sidewalk setups.
As advocates and restaurateurs pushed back on the new rules, Councilmember Lincoln Restler introduced a bill in October that would bring back the year-round roadway program and streamline the application process.
Menin was a cosponsor of Restler’s bill, and while a new version would need to be introduced this term, she supports its general framework, according to a spokesperson.
At an unrelated press conference on Wednesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he supported a year-round program.
Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, praised Menin for her comments and said in a statement that his group looks forward to working with the Council to “ensure the program is reformed in a way that is fair and sustainable.”
