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It’s time to dust off the heat lamps and reclaim your curbside Negroni: year-round outdoor dining is poised for a comeback.
On Wednesday morning, newly installed City Council Speaker Julie Menin vowed to overhaul the city’s much-maligned outdoor dining rules and bring back 365-day al fresco eating—this time without the regulatory headache that drove thousands of restaurants out of the program.
“This is a big one. We will finally fix the city’s outdoor dining program to make it year-round and reduce the regulatory burdens for restaurants,” Menin said while speaking at the Association for a Better New York’s Power Breakfast.
If this all feels like deja vu, that’s because outdoor dining has been stuck in bureaucratic purgatory since the city formalized its pandemic-era Open Restaurants program. In 2023, the city imposed seasonal restrictions requiring that roadway dining sheds be taken down every winter. What followed was a costly, time-consuming approval process that left restaurateurs shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for compliant sheds, insurance and lawyers—yet then paying again to dismantle everything come winter.
At the height of the pandemic, between 6,000 and 8,000 New York City restaurants operated outdoor setups, according to reporting by Gothamist. But, by last fall, fewer than 3,000 remained and only a fraction of those were roadway sheds. Just a few hundred establishments managed to secure full approval under the current rules, while thousands more limped along on conditional permits as applications piled up at City Hall.
Menin framed the fix as an economic necessity. “These measures will help small businesses survive and adapt by clearing up policies of the past that can lead to closures and job loss,” she said. “Preventing job loss is vital to maintaining New York as the economic capital of the world.”
Her push revives legislation originally introduced by Brooklyn Council Member Lincoln Restler last fall, which was co-sponsored by Menin. The bill would remove seasonal restrictions on roadway dining, streamline the approval proces and give greater flexibility for restaurants, especially smaller ones, to operate viable outdoor setups year-round. Because the previous bill expired at the end of the Council’s term, a new version will need to be reintroduced this session.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has publicly backed a return to year-round roadway dining, marking a clear break from the seasonal compromise adopted under former Mayor Eric Adams. The NYC Hospitality Alliance welcomed Menin’s comments, calling reduced fees and fewer regulatory hurdles “essential to strengthening our economy and supporting the hospitality and cultural sectors.”
Not everyone is sold. Critics still point to abandoned sheds, rats, noise and quality-of-life complaints that emerged during the pandemic rush, while even supporters agree the program needs better design standards and stronger enforcement. Still, the appetite—for diners and restaurants alike—hasn’t gone away.