Every outdoor cafe permit is cleared by the Community Board in that area, after an open hearing, and they try to strike a balance between sidewalk use and neighborhood sentiment in favor of the outdoor cafe.
It’s not just a smoking issue, since every outdoor cafe has to have a nonsmoking section, which for the smaller ones ends up being the whole cafe. That’s the law, anyway.
The problem is when restaurant owners stretch the privilege. If they’re on a corner, they can illegally put tables up the side street, or they can add an extra row on the avenue. Recently, a blind guy fell because the restaurant had always had two rows of tables and they added a third one. There is also now a bottleneck where the cafe leaves only a few feet between the outermost row of tables and the mailbox.
This restaurant is having trouble staying in business, as many are.
The real problem is the economy. When the warm weather finally comes, the restaurants can’t wait to get the income from the outdoor cafes. They are hurting. So another anti-business assault is not the answer.
Bloombird is after more revenue but there must be something like a Laffer Curve that says when he’s going too far.
Bloombird is after more revenue but there must be something like a Laffer Curve that says when he’s going too far.
Yup, you're right about BloomTurd. He's gone WAY too far for us, particularly with his parking and traffic "violation" ticket prices, toll hikes and other rules and regulations. We've given up parking on the streets, so we're forced to pay the high garage prices. Metro North train fares are way up.
We won't be providing any $$$ to those restaurants this upcoming spring or summer, and I really do miss going to some of them. It's gotten to the point where we can only afford to go to NYC about once a year now, unfortunately. Usually around Christmastime...