City Comptroller and Democratic candidate in the 2025 NYC mayor’s race Brad Lander has his plate full with a brand-new plan for outdoor dining that, he says, would keep al fresco service available and thriving year-round.
Lander told amNewYork on Tuesday that if he is elected mayor, he plans to overhaul the Dining Out NYC program, which he alleged that the city “mismanaged” leading up to its less-than-stellar seasonal launch on Tuesday.
According to the candidate, the program was “burdened” with “bureaucratic requirements” that he said led city officials to “fail” at adequately managing its implementation this year.
A ‘rocky start’ for new outdoor dining rollout
Outdoor dining officially opened for the season on April 1. So far, many New Yorkers and community advocates have been unimpressed.
Although the NYC Council approved permanent outdoor dining in 2023, requiring an extensive approval process through multiple city agencies and community boards, Lander quickly blamed one of his political opponents, Mayor Eric Adams, for the slow rollout.
“Today, only a small fraction of NYC restaurants will open their outdoor dining setups because of the utter and complete failures of the Adams administration,” he said.
Lander has maintained that the scope of outdoor dining has dropped dramatically from 12,500 restaurants at its height during the COVID-19 pandemic to just 40 as of last month.
Liquor licenses are also facing a shortfall, he said.
“Only seven, yes seven, restaurants will have secured liquor licenses, bringing economic uncertainty to many of the city’s best dining spots and leaving New Yorkers with few options to drink outside,” he added.
A spokesperson for City Hall came back at Lander’s remarks, saying he “lacks a basic understanding” of how city government works.
“After City Council leadership made clear early on that they opposed roadway dining completely — and only after the Adams administration negotiated to save the program — the council established an approval process tangled in bureaucratic red tape, which several businesses are dealing with today,” the spokesperson said. “Thanks solely to the Adams administration’s effective management, we helped cut through the red tape, clearing the way for the nearly 2,450 roadway and sidewalk setups that are currently operating, with more approvals on the way.”
Meanwhile, officials from the DOT, who have a key role in the permitting process, also dispute Lander’s claims. They said the vast majority of restaurants that applied (around 70%) were ready to open outside on April 1. They also said the agency reviewed all roadway applications and advanced the fully completed and compliant ones through the rulemaking process.
Delving deeper into the numbers provided by the city, about 80% of all sidewalk setups—1,808 of 2,241 applications—are currently allowed to operate as their applications are processed.
As for roadside setups, 617 of 1,178 roadway applications were ready to open their outside doors on April 1, mostly due to DOT’s ability to grant conditional approvals.
Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans, a group that advocates for more open space in the city, placed what she called a “rocky start” for the program’s season-opening square on the NYC Council.
“New York City’s curbside dining season kicks off today with a staggering decline in the number and diversity of participating businesses,” she said. “Many New Yorkers looking forward to the return of their favorite curbside seat will likely be disappointed. The City Council has unfortunately stifled this popular, lucrative pandemic-era program with car-centric thinking and bureaucracy. While it’s exciting that outdoor dining is back, our enthusiasm is dampened by the current state of affairs.”
The transition from a temporary outdoor program under a state of emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic without regulations or fees, back to one with legally required regulations and costs for the transfer of public space to private businesses was “always going to be a difficult change,” a City Council spokesperson explained.
“The Department of Transportation’s rollout has not been effectively managed and its rulemaking also created problems with sidewalk cafe and roadway dining requirements,” she added. “To successfully navigate this major transition and ensure maximum participation, the city must address unresolved issues, including application processing and improved public outreach for restaurants.”
The spokesperson added that there will be an oversight hearing this month regarding the program.
As a bright spot for New Yorkers who enjoy al fresco dining, the DOT said it expects more restaurants to receive conditional approvals as the season progresses.
‘Cutting the red tape’
In the meantime, Lander said his plan for outdoor dining would improve the program going forward.
The plan, which he calls Dining Out NYC 2.0, redesigns the current program to be year-round and streamlines the sidewalk and roadside outdoor dining approvals to make the application process faster and easier for all applicants.
“As mayor, I will cut the red tape by opening up outdoor dining year-round and making applications faster and easier so that this time next spring, we’ll be closer to pre-pandemic levels of outdoor dining options,” he said.
His plan also upgrades application technology to allow features like letting restaurants save partially submitted applications to return to complete so they don’t have to be filed at once. Business owners would also be permitted to apply for permits in person.
Cumbersome or large-scale outdoor dining enclosures were a point of contention for New Yorkers following the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lander said his plan would maximize seating areas while also considering the space meant for pedestrian traffic.
Clearance standards for sidewalk cafes of half the sidewalk width or eight feet—whichever is greater to maximize seating space—would also return. The plan also “ensures that scaffolding erected above a sidewalk cafe that meets pedestrian clearance requirements does not limit a sidewalk cafe’s footprint,” Lander’s office explained.
NYC’s outdoor dining season runs through Nov. 29. More information about the permitting process is available online.
