An overview via the magazine's press folks:
In New York's latest issue, features writer Simon van Zuylen-Wood examines one of New York City’s remaining vestiges of COVID-19: the outdoor dining shed. From shabby wooden structures to fabulous cabins with white tablecloths, their mass constructions “probably represent the speediest reshaping of the built environment in the city’s history,” van Zuylen-Wood writes. The streeteries were initially part of a program started by former mayor Bill de Blasio as a solution to help sustain restaurants during the height of the pandemic and meant to be temporary.However, in year three of the pandemic, the city is looking to make these structures permanent, even as we still grapple with how they’ve transformed the streetscape. Van Zuylen-Wood looks ahead to the future of streeteries while the seething ideological fight between shed-haters and lovers unfolds.
You can read the piece here.
Meanwhile, in recent weeks, several East Village restaurants removed their outdoor dining structures, including Sabor A Mexico Taqueria on First Avenue and Bowery Meat Company on First Street. (BMC's structure was still in use and looked like one of the nicer ones around. And somehow graffiti-free.) The abandoned structure outside Momofuku on First Avenue is also no more.
The DOT has also placed notices at several now-closed restaurants, including Nomad on Second Avenue...
... and Kindred at Sixth Street at First Avenue...
The Kindred notice, dated Oct. 15, states the restaurant had 24 hours to remove the roadway setup. It was still up as of last evening, Oct. 25.
In other outdoor dining news, the DOT released a report yesterday analyzing the impact of the Open Streets program. The report includes claims that restaurants and bars along these thoroughfares did better than those on regular commercial streets, and some even did better than they were doing before the pandemic. The Times has the story here.
The city is supposedly coming up with rules to standardize the sheds, so they’d be simpler structures like they were originally intended without floors and full walls. Pared back a bit would be an improvement. As well as billing any company that leaves abandoned sheds for their removal.
ReplyDeleteYou may be s little misinformed. Supposedly the transportation commissioner wants to eliminate sheds COMPLETELY, standardizing outdoor dining to tables, chairs , umbrellas, and barriers that are totally removable,plus standardizing design requirements
DeleteThis piece is sure to rev up the local EVG comment mill! I’m all in on outdoor dining, sheds and all. Indeed some of them provide new cover for rats but it’s NYC, they’re everywhere.
ReplyDeleteYes, set standards and regulate the sheds but don’t outlaw them.
Nothing more than a bad trend that needs to end
ReplyDeleteOne person's glib comment regarding rats, first let me say "welcome to NY, hope you enjoy it until you move back to the suburbs in a few years". Rats are not a joke, their explosive population growth created a problem I have never seen in the past 41 years. If you have a garden or have ever volunteered in a community garden you would realize the great effort gardeners are making to fight back against the constant rat holes and destruction of plants. For the first time ever the rats are now eating flowers and other plants. It you had a decent sense of smell you would also notice that "special" scent before you food arrives while dining in a street shed. That smell is rat shit and piss and probably decaying rat bodies. This is just the tip of this injustice pile of shit left over from De Blasio's land gift to the hospitality industry, which of course is whole other sorted story. So the next time you are having an amazing time eating in a shed remember rats are doing their business under a ¾ inch plywood floor.
ReplyDeleteThe sheds have acted as rat incubators that have then seeded abandoned lots and back yards throughout the city. We can’t use the backyard of our building anymore, as it’s become overrun with rats. This is first time this has happened in the 32 years I’ve been living here. As a first step in controlling the rats, the shed must go.
ReplyDelete"Yes, set standards and regulate the sheds "
ReplyDeleteAs evidenced in this article with the dated DOT letters, there seems to be no "real" DOT enforcement. There is also the issue of noise, blasting music, screaming drunk customers etc, for the active sheds, the so called NYC "Quiet Hours" statue is not being enforced by NYPD. In fact NOTHING is being enforced across the board in the City these "post" COVID days. As far as traffic enforcement, cars, SUVS, trucks, regular bikes (FD, I ride and drive), delivery E-Bikes, CitiBikes, scooters, mopeds, illegal ATVS and dirt bikes, etc., it's "Mad Max:Fury Road" out there. This started with BdB but now has doubled down with Adams. Big part of this, as has been reported, re the DOT, is the headcount drain and the low morale of the department. That being said, yes, there has been some ridiculous enforcement of small businesses across the city. And as far as the loss of parking spaces, get rid of some sheds but replace those with delivery only spaces 24/7. And we have all seen pictures of the sheds with A/C units installed.
That NEW YORK MAGAZINE cover brings a new meaning to the phrase, "Upstairs, Downstairs."
ReplyDelete@9:03 AM
ReplyDeleteNYC already has laws regarding out door dining It is called sidewalk cafe seating and it has worked for decades due to it being enforced properly. This shed or perhaps post shed time will not follow cafe rules, public streets will still be used by restaurants, and many of the same problems will continue such as loud drunken crowds and most likely barricades strewn about which encourages a late night hang out spot for pot smokers. Many us still suffer negative affects of this illegal land grant to landlords and those in the hospitably industry.
"ABANDONDED"??? And this is an official city communique?
ReplyDeleteNO sheds, NO sheds, NO sheds. This encroachment (or en-rat-ment) on PUBLIC LAND for FREE needs to end.
ReplyDeleteI am at a point where I don't give a single fuck about the restaurant industry. No sympathy, no empathy left. NONE.
My block is one of the many that has been subjected to a horrendous increase in rats and rat infestations in every residential building, whether a 12-story apartment building or a 5-story townhouse.
Before the sheds, our block had not had a rat problem in DECADES (and at that time, it was due to major construction on one end of the block).
This is my quality of life, and the quality of life of EVERYONE on my block, about which NYC is saying: "Too bad, you don't have any expensive lobbyists! You lose."
Every resident on my block is a taxpayer, and NYC government is supposed to be working on behalf of ALL THE CITIZENS, which it is not.
No, I'm not leaving NYC (yet), but this dumbing-down via dining sheds needs to end. This is getting to be like a shitty third-world-country's city, where filth is just accepted as a "given", and it's WRONG. NYC is headed the wrong, wrong way.
@noble I'm merely stating some information here, not making a judgement as to whether this is a positive or negative. I too agree with returning to the sidewalk cafe system
ReplyDeleteThere's a larger real estate issue related to the street structures that nobody is talking about... Restaurants like them because they're free space - more seats, more revenue. Without them many restaurants would not be able to survive because rent on their indoor spaces is too high to be affordable. If they cancel the outdoor seating, many restaurants will close and landlords won't be getting rent... And landlords nor restaurants want that, so they're advocating to keep them.
ReplyDeleteWhat about retail businesses that are not restaurants? We have seen endless amounts of retail stores go out of business. If they were gifted free outdoor space, they too could thrive. So we could have smoke shops with outdoor spaces, and every other type of retail business. We could take this third world approach a step further and destroy the flavor of our city even more. The good does not outweigh the bad. Get rid of the sheds. Winter is coming. Perfect time to use the sheds as firewood, for those lucky enough to have a fireplace.
DeleteRats are not the problem... People and our ill-advised, short-sighted, miney-grubbibg interventions into nature are the problem - and rats are just an indication of this outdoor restaurant structure debacle being a huge failure. And nature is doing some reclaiming via our furry little bald tailed friends.
ReplyDeleteEverybody calm down. Sheds aren't the problem, garbage collection is the real issue here. But there is simple solution to all this. Now that conceal carry is legal provide waiters with sidearms. When a rat pops out of a hole fuck 'em up!.... Blow his/her ratty little brains out!........Charge extra if the customer wants to join in......Bros would LOVE this!.......Bonus points and wages to staff and customers alike. I'm telling a good and jolly time would be had by all!
ReplyDelete@11:15am: EXACTLY! This is about the restaurant owners AND their landlords all being delighted to get something for nothing, on the backs of the taxpayers. So of course they're going to join forces in "lobbying" (such a nice word for "bribe") for continued free use of public space.
ReplyDeleteWhen you've made all the landlords happy, something is very very wrong.
if you're unhappy about rats, complain about our 3rd world trash collection.
ReplyDeleteThe Drunks & The Noise & The Rats end this emergency measure run amok, outdoor dinning has it's pleasures to be sure but! the sacrifices to the quality of life for those that live on the same block as even a single shed can really really suck those of us that have multiple establishments that are exploiting the city's short handed enforcement of any regulations and are literally living in a nightmare
ReplyDeleteeven the bars and "cafes" that have thump parties after 10pm should be told to shut it off or at least turn it the fuck down so people 6 buildings away can get some sleep many if not all of these rooms weren't built out for big ass bass speakers and throngs of drunk kids swarming outside yet here we are.... the post covid attack on residents by some businesses and most of the day & night trippers to the area are choking the vibrancy & livability out of our community
Believe it or not, I am sort of neutral on this topic. LOVE the NY Mag cover. It brings the realities home. Rats and vermin are here to stay, I'm afraid.
ReplyDelete@12:10PM: Nope, the sheds (AKA rat incubators) ARE the problem. Without sheds we'd have far, far fewer rats.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you haven't had the experience of having a rat run through your apartment at 2AM, as I did some months ago. If you'd experienced that, you might have a very different POV.
BTW, if you live on a higher floor, remember that rats are great at climbing the pipes and electrical conduits, etc. to let themselves into your apartment.
If there were ever a case of "The Vocal Minority", it's sidewalk sheds. Opinion polls unvaryingly show that a majority of people in the city are in favor of the sheds. But if you come to the comment section of any article written about them, you'd think they were the most reviled aspect of living in NYC today.
ReplyDeleteSo it is no surprise that the EVGrumps loathe them. Outdoor dining improves the quality of life of most people in the city. Having a meal outdoors in the summer seems like a luxury in NYC (in most cities it is commonplace). We've finally found a way to utilize space designated for parking (is there a bigger misuse of public land?) and turned it into a common good. Naturally, the EVGrumps hate it.
^^^ People that don't have to live above or next to them like them.
ReplyDelete@1:57pm: "Outdoor dining improves the quality of life of most people in the city." Uh, says who? Says you, and can you tell me when you were put in charge of quality of life in NYC?
ReplyDeleteMOST people do not want the dining sheds, that is a fact.
Those "opinion polls" you mention (without giving any links or reference) would be ones that polled people who are EATING and DRINKING at dining sheds and that also polled restaurant owners, I think. Oh, and they'd poll tourists, b/c tourists don't give a fuck about our quality of life, since they're just passing through.
If anyone bothered to poll ALL the people who live in buildings where they get the shed noise directly, they'd find that NO ONE would be in favor of any shed: THAT is the truth and the real bottom line.
The other issue is that the landlords & restaurant owners are busy lining some pockets with $$$$$$$$$ to have the law changed in their favor. They're paying to pervert the overall quality of life in NYC to favor of their own bank accounts. The rest of us (the majority!) are just collateral damage to them.
As ever, money talks, and in this case it's nearly screaming.
Take down the sheds. It is overdue. It is not fair to benefit one industry at everyone else’s expense. A good idea would be to vote on it. That’s what this country’s democracy is built on.
ReplyDelete1.) I live above and next to dining sheds. Compared to other noise from the street (garbage trucks, drunk people walking through the streets at all hours, the dog that barks constantly across the street) -- the noise from the dining sheds is barely a murmur.
ReplyDelete2.) As requested, here's a Citation for public support of dining sheds. The DOT study found: ""A whopping 84 percent of Manhattanites say they support repurposing curb space from free private vehicle storage to make room for the outdoor dining sheds and structures"
Let's also remember that restaurants with dining sheds are not typically owned by big, evil corporations. In NYC, we're lucky that our dining options are mostly run by small business owners. It's not like this is some greedy handout to corporations, we're reclaiming parking spaces for the public good.
First of all, those "surveys" are laughable... They only polled 167 people in all of Manhattan! Ha! Also that survey is from quite early in the pandemic - Oct 2020... I don't think anyone had the faintest idea of how this situation would manifest back then. Doubt that now (two years later) the numbers would be anything similar.
ReplyDeleteAnd who were those 167 people that were polled? What's their demographic breakdown? Where do they live?
ReplyDeleteThe EVGrumps sure hate data! Here's another source:
ReplyDelete"While opponents might be louder, most New Yorkers love the vibrancy of outdoor dining. A recent Siena poll found that Manhattanites preferred allocating street space to dining over cars by a margin of 78% to 17%."
Citation: https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-outdoor-dining-is-good-for-new-york-city-20211110-3thttddf65czneofg4nkwtsn3a-story.html
It's a fact: most New Yorkers like the sheds. But the vocal minority won't shut up about how much they hate it.
Rats Shmats..LOVE that cover!
ReplyDeleteLove the sheds! Best thing to happen to NYC from the covid pause, changing the streets to be more about hanging out, eating, drinking, relaxing.
ReplyDeleteas a lifetime nyer, i'd like to say don't let the door(or lack of one) hit you on the way out to the sheds. they have become rat and junkie houses, and a weird land grab by restaurants which drive all the neighbors crazy.
ReplyDeletedon't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with sidewalk tables, but loads of places took it on themselves to build a whole second restaurant. and they are NEVER cleaned. it's time to shut it down.
Why are restaurants getting all the free land and revenue gains? How about other small businesses? If I have a small vintage clothing store, why am I not entitled to a shed when my neightbor gets an extra 10x20 for FREE?? Not Fair!!
ReplyDeleteTo the real estate industry shill, MrNiceGuy, a misnomer if ever there was one, who keeps on going on about EV Grumps in this and other posts, go back to the suburb you came from, which you will inevitably do but not soon enough. And please enjoy that smell of rat and junkie pee while you are dining. Noble neolani is absolutely correct in the unprecedented rat boom in community gardens. I volunteer at one and though we have had to intermittently deal with rats in the past due to local construction, the garden is now decimated by rats, like nothing we have ever seen. Those who like sheds are the ones who don't live on a block full of them, don't have to deal with the crowds and noise on the weekends, and certainly have no clue about the responsibility of a decent standard of living for all means in a civil, compassionate society means.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't work or have much of an investment in real estate (I'm the furthest thing from a shill, and I didn't come from a suburb, I'm a CityGuy). But, like the majority of New Yorkers, I enjoy restaurants and eating outdoors. Like most blocks, mine has many dining sheds. My apartment looks out upon a very large shed that is packed most nights. It's still far quieter than other city noise I encounter daily. If rats are your complaint, let's clean up our trash problem. Regulating the sheds (the topic of this post) will help as well.
ReplyDeleteOh the hypocrisy of someone saying "go back to where you came from", then preaching about "civil and compassionate society". EVGrumps are gonna Grump I guess.
Wow what vitriol in the comments section for an overwhelmingly popular initiative. I wonder if the noise and rats are really the problem or if there is some other issue they are standing in for, because it doesn’t seem like outdoor dining is the main cause of either.
ReplyDeleteOften when you see such a concentration of posting by fringe groups, shills are behind it. I wonder who is funding all of these comments against the people’s will.
@5:50PM: Oh, please, you're an embarrassment to yourself with the drivel you've written.
ReplyDelete"Overwhelmingly popular"? Only in your dreams!
And you say all of us who live here are a "fringe group"? You really should keel over from the sheer idiocy of that statement.
Who are YOU shilling for? Eh, never mind, it's clear whose payroll you're on.
It's blindingly evident that dining sheds are hated by most people in NYC ... you know, those of us who live here & pay taxes on everything every day. Yeah, us! We're just jonesing for a decent quality-of-life.
The city owes it to every person who lives here to put the question of the dining sheds on the BALLOT, so we can have an official vote about whether taxpayer-funded street space should be given away for FREE to restaurant owners in perpetuity.
But we don't see that referendum happening, do we? Gee, I wonder why? Maybe it's all the $$$ that's changing hands behind our backs to "influence" the outcome of this (which is known as rigging the game".
Anyone who's been in NYC for more than a week can see that this whole dining shed thing is, at this point, nothing more than a verrrry greedy grab by restaurant owners at taxpayer expense.
That other Sienna poll that MrNiceGuy points to as evidence of overwhelming support of these streetside cafeterias is also from the end of 2020, and also only polled around 800 people. Again, not even considering the tiny sample size (and also what is the demographic breakdown- who were these people and where did they live?), two years later that data is likely not representative of current opinion, especially that of those who live in neighborhoods like the East Village or LES.
ReplyDelete