Monday's Headlines: Dining Dash Edition - Streetsblog New York City

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"How did curbside outdoor dining go this year? It's hard to tell. While the city approved several thousand businesses to set up in the street for the April-through-November seasonal program, just 300 have completed the application process to do so again next year - which we reported last month when DOT revealed the stats at a City Council hearing. Now another data point shows that uptick this year was likely a lot lower than the 2,600 restaurants and bars awarded permits for curbside set-ups: Of the 59 restaurants approved for roadway dining in Hell's Kitchen, just 13 set up in the roadway, neighborhood news site W42ST reported last week after a thorough survey of its home turf. The roadblocks are plentiful, but boil down to the piles of regulations and fees that city piled onto the program when the City Council under Speaker Adrienne Adams voted to make it permanent and seasonal. "There's so much money - and so much opportunity for small business owners to make money - that's getting taken away because of rebuilding the structures," Ted Arenas, a bar owner who opted to set up in the roadway, told the outlet. Another neighborhood restaurateur complained of "lots of red tape" in the DOT's "complicated" application process. Yet another panned the process as "very expensive and lengthy.""

Streetsblog requests tax-deductible donations to support reporters and offers a special gift for major donors. The city approved several thousand businesses for the April–November seasonal curbside dining program, yet only about 300 completed renewals to participate next year. A neighborhood survey in Hell's Kitchen found only 13 of 59 approved restaurants actually set up in the roadway. Participation declined largely because the City Council added regulations and fees when making the program permanent and seasonal. Owners reported lost revenue from reconstruction costs and criticized the application process as complicated, expensive, lengthy, and full of red tape.

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