Diners outside at La Pecora Bianca on Broadway in New York City
Photo: Eden, Janine, and Jim via CC
When you live in a small city, as I do, you often shake your head at other places where space is at a premium and drivers have to pay sky-high prices for parking spaces. New York City’s high demand for parking spaces might soon have a casualty besides residents’ wallets: outdoor dining.
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As the COVID-19 pandemic made dining indoors dangerous, New York City introduced its Open Restaurants program to allow New Yorkers to dine out again and small businesses to thrive. According to Eater New York, more than 11,000 restaurants took advantage of the scheme to expand dining into street parking spots and sidewalks.
Most New Yorkers seemed to be supportive of the program, but vaccinations and the easing of indoor restrictions have some restaurant neighbors ready to give the de facto patios the boot. Residents of Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, and Soho recently attended local meetings to express disdain for the spaces. Not only do they occupy valuable parking spaces and block traffic, but residents say that they are noisy and attract vermin.
Earlier in the pandemic, some auto writers, myself included, wondered if the expansion of outdoor spaces at the expense of vehicles would be permanent. No matter where you live, it’s great to have more options to get outside on a nice day. Mayor Bill De Blasio reportedly supports keeping the Open Restaurants program, and the CDC’s recent update to indoor mask recommendations shows that the pandemic still isn’t over.
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We’ll see who wins this fight between rich Manhattan residents looking for closer parking and New York’s restaurant scene.
A Dayton native, Rebecca got her start blogging at the curiously named Harlac’s Tongue while studying abroad in the UK. She loves tooling around town with her Ford Focus named Jerome to the song they’re playing on the radio. On any given weekend, you can find her with her camera at area festivals, concerts, and car shows, shopping at flea markets, or taking an adventure on the open road. See more articles by Rebecca.
