The article discusses how community boards and city lawmakers in New York City are strategically exploiting bureaucratic regulations established by Mayor Adams and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to obstruct outdoor dining applications. The newly enacted outdoor dining law in 2023 creates avenues for opponents to challenge outdoor dining, threatening to confine it to affluent neighborhoods. Critics highlight unnecessary complexities in the approval process that undermine the effort to foster al fresco dining. The local Community Board 2 is exercising its newfound authority to delay approvals, revealing a significant shift back to pre-pandemic restrictions.
"It's just unnecessary. I don't know why [CB2] makes it so difficult," said one local restaurateur, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid trouble with the board.
The outdoor dining law created several pathways for outdoor dining opponents to hamstring restaurants and bars that want to set up al fresco.
The law not only banned roadway "streeteries" four months per year, but also created an intricate process of public hearings and outside vetoes.
Crafted under the leadership of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who just announced a run for mayor, the law created barriers to outdoor dining.
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