The Open Streets al fresco dining season has been rescued, after the Department of Transportation cut the red tape that would have limited it to just 29 days for the entire season.
As we reported last month, the DOT was implementing new rules on Open Streets dining created by the Adams administration to legalize what was a permit-driven, ad hoc, pandemic-era program that would have forced restaurant owners to adhere to a "well-established concession model." That would have meant that popular Open Streets on Canal Street, Orchard Street, and St. Mark's Place would have only had a total of 29 days to operate the entire warm weather season—barely once a week—while they waited on a more permanent license to operate, which could have taken more than a year. One restaurant owner called this "untenable," another called it a "difficult proposition," and the DOT pledged to figure out a solution.