As far as we can recall, the space hadn't been used since last fall (though it was pretty festive when it was in service).
And here's how the space looked last evening...
There is a No Standing sign in place here, and parking is not allowed between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week.
The signs arrived in late June ahead of the new Bus Only lane on the southbound section of Avenue A below Fifth Street. (Not sure why the city placed the signs here, when there isn't a bus lane — unless that's coming soon. Somtum Der next door still uses its curbside dining space.)
Meanwhile, as you likely read, a new lawsuit was filed that seeks to end the city's outdoor dining program. The suit blames the Open Restaurants program, which was implemented during the pandemic in 2020, for excessive noise, traffic and garbage.
40 comments:
It'd be nice to see most/all of them come down. I really feel for the residents who have to live above that shit...It served its time now its time to get back to what was.
Yea! Now do the rest so the people who actually live on these streets don't have to endure drunken screaming "diners" all night. Put those "diners" INSIDE the restaurants/bars & see how they like it.
Great - one place actually taking responsibility to remove their shed - one down, 4,581 more to go ! HA
If you've been to Takahachi in the past, oh, 32 years (inside or out), then you'll know that it's not exactly the "drunken screaming 'diners'" crowd.
Keep the outside dining sheds. There are several on my block. I don't mind them, and neither do my neighbors. They make the area safer and I love the lively atmosphere when I leave my apartment. There have never been any issues. If you don't like them, then perhaps consider moving to Long Island where it is much quieter and where there is no foot traffic.
100% Agree there becoming filthy vandalized shack’s that litter the streets and Avenue’s there not maintained and clean I believe it time to take them down
Thank you to Grieve to reminding people that there is, in fact, nuance in the world and not every use case of these sheds is the same.
I'll never understand why people can't step back and consider that maybe instead of trying to erase all sheds we can't simply punish the bad actors, address issues, and encourage our streetscapes to be used for creating a more lively, energetic space that drives foot traffic to everyone's benefit instead of holding one parking space (for free). All of these things are not mutually exclusive!
How does a dining shed make a street safer? More obstructed maybe.
One down, hundreds to go. The whole EV/LES looks like the Kowloon Walled City.
Anon. 10:12 AM- Stop. Just stop with that worn-out, cliched stupidity.
Excuse me for staying in the EV, but this is a free use of public space for the ones who are privileged enough to pay these currently insane restaurant prices.
Hell yeah! I hate walking down that stretch this definitely will feel more open. Love that spot too. Hope it wasn't too expensive to tear down for them. Good people.
@10:48? What? It's not "free". First of all that is metered parking. And it's public as opposed to a private business of one type using the space. Most people want all these shacks out of here. It's unreal that they've been allowed to continue this long.
@10:12am you are distinctly in the minority. I and my neighbors have suffered so much due to rats; we've all had to spend our OWN MONEY on exterminator services for the past 2 years, both to control the rats and to avoid NYC *fines* for rodent infestation. No one one my block had a rat issue until these sheds went up, and then everyone on my block suddenly had a rat issue.
Maybe if you have a rat run through your apartment at 3am, you'll feel differently. I know my block cannot wait for these excrescences to be torn down.
BTW, the argument for these sheds is the same one used AGAINST cars: they are using publicly-funded space for a private purpose for FREE.
PS: Maybe you should move to Long Island, and take your EV "culture" with you; you can then enliven Long Island. I've lived in the EV longer than you've likely been alive, and I'm staying right where I am. I can remember a time when people and businesses here were considerate of each other... yes, even in the "bad old days"!
Interestingly, the opponents of outdoor dining have taken a page from Donald J. Trump's playbook and his use of disparaging nicknames ("Pocahontas," "Crooked Hillary" and "Sloppy Steve Bannon") with the use of "Rat Sheds" and others. I'm surprised there are so many Trumpers in this neighborhood. That's more of a reason to move than some outdoor dining structures. To quote your leader, Sad!
There is a restaurant on my block that has benefited greatly from this shed situation. Their storefront is extremely small, so their shed seats about 3-4x as many customers. They've also taken advantage of the restaurants on either side of them being closed, so they've taken over the shed and sidewalk space. Now, instead of seating maybe 15 customers at a time, they can seat about 40. They've stayed open all year likely because they are doing more business now than ever. I'm wondering if they are looking to relocate their physical space, though, because the situation is not sustainable. I'd be happy to have all their customers moved indoors and I'm sure their staff would welcome that as well.
"If you don't like them, then perhaps consider moving to Long Island where it is much quieter and where there is no foot traffic."
LOL, there it is! Paging Crazy Eddie to the white courtesy phone!
10:12 AM get a grip. The sheds, particularly when on either side of apartment building entrance, are not safe for residents. We have had our inner lobby door bashed in and packages stolen three times in the past month and people sleeping on the door step constantly. The dirty, graffiti covered shed with small windows to the left of our front door blocks sight-lines, the cleaner, larger shed to the right has big windows and is not as bad. They are latrines at night and ersatz homeless shelters, which I can't blame them for using. While some of the sheds are well maintained and well run, some of them are so disgusting it is hard to imagine that people eat, or usually, drink in them.
Since decades, Takahachi operates responsibly an excellent restaurant. Good that they took down the shed now at the tail end of the pandemic. The other sheds ought to go soon. Ridiculous how city officials hand out public property to private for-profit business with nothing in return, even making ne3ighbors suffer from the noise and vermin described in so many cases. Key problem is the utter incapability of city enforcement of noise codes and sanitation codes. Or is it corruption? Why does '311' complaints yield so little effect that most consider it a waste of time? Why do elected official in our neighborhood permit such situations to drag on and on?
I’ll never understand how this discussion brings out the most NIMBY mindsets imaginable. A well-maintained outdoor dining area is 100x preferable to a parking spot — go after the bad actors who are leaving out filthy shacks, sure, but they are an overwhelming net positive
Easy. Charge for parking everywhere, and charge rent for outdoor structures. Use the revenue to remove garbage storage on the sidewalk, which we all know is the source of the rats. Everyone is happy.
I hate Donald Trump and I hate the dining rat sheds. I don’t think your comment is accurate. Trump thankfully got deported to Florida. Now it’s time for the sheds to come down. And I also hate Hochul. She gave the sheds a 3 year extension. I am a registered democrat but no way I am voting for her. Just like I didn’t vote for party boy Adams.
Spot on @4:01. Focus on the issue, make money, and drive the highest and best use of space!
They've served their purpose. Time for them to go. Neighborhood supported them, not it is time for them to support the neighborhood. Down with the Sheds!
Just to diverge, I had an idea the other day, it's prolly too late now, and now I'll be up to my ankles in EVG Comment Derision.
But. If the city did or had required each restaurant building a shed provide a "demolish fund", say $3000, held in an equity account until needed, it would have been easier for everyone. Owners who could not meet that requirement prolly shouldn't be building an exterior structure anyway.
@9:06pm: Totally agree with you: the restaurant owners should have had to put "demolition" money into an escrow account. In addition to what you've written, it would have shown us exactly which of these owners is a "good neighbor" and who isn't.
I can only say that an awful lot of restaurant owners either don't care or don't comprehend how much ill-will they are creating (and maintaining) because of their way of dealing (or not dealing) with this issue.
In short: I live here. I am not leaving this neighborhood. And I do vote with my wallet.
Yes, removing the outdoor sheds will also remove all the rats, all the yelling, all the theft of packages and all the doors being bashed in. So it will be the same EV everyone here complained about but circa 2019…
How about we Keep the good sheds and get rid of the bad sheds. It’s pretty obvious. The streets are so much nicer with outdoor dining on nice evenings. And have a outdoor dining curfew after 11pm. This can work. There is no way we just give these spaces back so drivers can store their private cars for free and spew emissions 4x a week for street cleaning which is one of the worst uses of public space ever invented. Worst city decision ever to allow this hostile takeover back in 1959. The sheds are righting that wrong.
It really helps to file a complaint with the DOT online 311.
For instance: SR Number 311-10227103.
"The Department of Transportation inspected this location and determined that the establishment must remove all of the items immediately."
On June 10,2022 Takahachi was ordered to take their shed down immediately - it took them two months to comply.
The more the DOT hears complaints about bad players, the better. Not only are many sheds filthy and abandoned, many other sheds encroach on bike lanes, including the shed that remains standing next door to Takahachi.
Restaurants should either remove the sheds or police the neighborhood, clean the street and get involved with rodent abatement. They want our patronage and money but they haven't been good neighbors.
@11:12AM: The restaurants should also be paying the exterminator bills for me & most of the rest of my block. We have incurred this expense explicitly b/c of these sheds. There had not been any rat problem on our block in over 10 years (since last major construction event) until these sheds went up - and now we've all been forced to spend OUR money to remedy the problem caused by the sheds.
@11:51pm: "How about we Keep the good sheds and get rid of the bad sheds. It’s pretty obvious." Hey, thanks, Captain Obvious, I'm suuuure we all agree on which are the "good" sheds and which are the "bad" sheds... NOPE!
There's no way we give these spaces to restaurants, not now, not ever. Parked cars certainly do pay at the meter. Restaurants are now just picking the pockets of all the taxpayers for public land they get to use for "free" - but it's not free to the taxpayers.
So let's get rid of ALL the sheds, and yes, let's get the EV back to how it was before this pandemic. NO OUTDOOR SHEDS!
This has nothing to do with sheds vs. cars. Living in the West Village with its proliferation of restaurants does not allow residents to get any peace at night with outdoor sheds in which homeless use as urinals, with rats abounding (something I had never seen before) the serenading of itinerant musicians in the streets supposedly entertaining the diners from everywhere else but the Village, the inablity of sanitation workers to keep the streets clean because of restaurants having sheds both on the sidewalk and in the gutter. For those of you who tell us very long time residents to move, stay where you live and allow us our quality of life back again. I would like to be able to walk down the street without watching out for drunk diners and drinkers and having room to walk on these very narrow streets. Additionally, bars that do not serve food were not given permission to put out tables and chairs extending into the street,like the Stonewall, but they do, and there is no enforcement.Everyone is afraid to offend. I have called 311 many times and all I get is a code number.
I live on Avenue a and the open restaurant program was good as a temporary fix but putting bars and restaurants and their sheds out on the sidewalk is making life miserable for those of us who have to deal with the doors noise day after day night after night. Open restaurants program should not be permanent there’s no way to control the noise DOT and police have their hands full without this mess, it’s like whack-a-mole
IMO, no one in NY is actually "in charge" of this mess, and the restaurants are happy to take advantage of that.
But I'm keeping track of elected officials who are in favor of continuing to make our lives miserable with the noise, garbage & vermin from these sheds. These officials don't live anywhere nearby, and they are not the ones suffering from the noise, smells, vermin or from homeless people "camping" out overnight in these places. It is NOT safe to walk down some of these streets after dark, period.
I'm also very clear about which restaurants will never, ever get another penny of my money, now that I've seen what lousy neighbors they actually are.
The sheds were okay as a temporary measure. There was NO oversight by an incompetent DOT. Do not expect improvement in oversight. The sheds need to pay rent, be maintained and sited safely. Even if they complied with these conditions, I will not be dining or imbibing amid fumes, rats and garbage. I just don't see the attraction
Love the outdoor seating, move to the burbs if you can’t take people.
@9:48am: You seem confused. We're fine with "people"; it's the fucking sheds we can't tolerate. PS: Which 'burb are YOU originally from?
The shed issue will be quickly solved when the DOH gets back to a regular schedule of restaurant & bar inspections. Not a single one of these sheds - no matter how fancy - will pass a health inspection & the fines will be massive & possibly rack up enough points to close a restaurant/bar. Owners have been foolishly banking on the fact the DOH stopped inspections for lockdowns - and has not done regular inspections for about 2 1/2 years. There are very few owners who will spend the $$$ needed to first pay the fines they'll get & then bring the shed up to code.
@11:51 your weird "anti car" activist statement makes no sense. Yes, the vehicle parking in the space is used by a citizen but it's a public space meaning when that car or truck leaves, another member of the public can use that space. Pretty obvious. And not what the shack issue is.
The city was supposedly issuing new rules for outdoor dining, with more minimal structures and more enforcement, has that gone through yet? Outdoor dining is nice, but imho better if just tables and chairs outside with low barriers and not huge structures with four walls.
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