NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — New York Metropolis Comptroller Mark Levine is investigating why so few out of doors eating setups are working, and why so many appear caught in metropolis paperwork.
The comptroller’s letter asks Metropolis Corridor for an in depth rationalization of the present course of, the common time it takes the town to course of and approve a restaurant’s utility for out of doors eating, staffing data and any efforts to hurry up the method.
The Division of Transportation, in an announcement, stated it warned of the continuing issues and that they need to be addressed with new legal guidelines from the Metropolis Council.
The out of doors eating season began April 1 with about 500 eating places permitted to function seasonal roadway eating.
“These participation numbers present precisely what we warned about: seasonality and a prolonged, bureaucratic approval course of are making it more durable for eating places to take part,” the DOT stated within the assertion. “The Metropolis Council ought to act shortly to reform the out of doors eating regulation and take away pointless hurdles that lengthen the applying course of and deter participation.”
The DOT says over 900 eating places are presently working via the necessities of the applying course of and should not licensed to function. Greater than 670 of these purposes are on pause as a result of the enterprise hasn’t submitted data required by the regulation.
The DOT says that purposes aren’t caught at a particular workplace or company due to lack of staffing or course of, however the regulation requires a protracted, multi-step course of that may stretch the approval course of to a number of months.
The division stated they need to work with the Metropolis Council on reforms that can make the method faster and simpler for companies to benefit from out of doors eating.
———-
* Get Eyewitness Information Delivered
* Extra New York Metropolis information
* Obtain the abc7NY app for breaking information alerts
Submit a tip or story thought to Eyewitness Information
Have a breaking information tip or an thought for a narrative we must always cowl? Ship it to Eyewitness Information utilizing the shape under. If attaching a video or picture, phrases of use apply.
Copyright © 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.
