There is a proposal for a sidewalk cafe at The Fourth, the ground-floor restaurant located in the Hyatt Union Square on Fourth Avenue at East 13th Street.
Community Board 2 heard the proposal for the sidewalk cafe with 13 tables and 26 chairs on March 20. Board members had some concerns about the configuration and size of the tables … as did a few nearby residents.
Some concerned residents shared a letter with us that they also submitted to CB2 as well as Councilmember Rosie Mendez's office.
Said one EVG reader:
Their proposal is laughable and preposterous in many ways. It calls for tiny, tiny tables placed perfectly next to one another on the extremely un-level sidewalk there to feign compliance with city laws. The idea that they will actually ask anyone to spend top-shelf prices to dine in these conditions is absurd.
Now let's quote from this letter, which goes into great detail about the way diners sit. Not to mention shoulders:
They have proposed six sets of (2) 19" wide tables pushed up against the wall and pushed up against each other. If these tables could be placed perfectly against each other, they would take up exactly 3'2" of space. Add to that the required 3' for a service corridor and their plan would take up every fraction of an inch available to them (based on their already inaccurate measurements). In reality, it is unrealistic to think that they could ever keep these tables pushed together.
Anyone who has dined at a restaurant knows that when 2 separate parties of 2 persons sit at adjacent tables, the tables are pushed apart (usually about a foot). The way this plan is written, if they push the tables apart by even a quarter of an inch, they are no longer in compliance with city regulations. If they had any intention of keeping the tables together, there would be no reason to request permission for 2 separate tables side by side. They would have requested only one table. They clearly intend to file the plan one way and then place the tables in a very different way.
So far we have only touched upon the size of the tables themselves and their ability to fit within the plans but let's not forget that people will be sitting at these tables and make their claimed placement of the tables impossible. This plan implies that 2 people could be sitting next to each other at this cafe, dining and enjoying cocktails and take up 38" or less of space.
The average width of a human shoulder is between 18" and 19". Even if you had people willing to sit shoulder to shoulder, touching each other, with the inside party's shoulder pinned against the wall, every time you had 2 people with shoulders that were above average, they would expand into the required 3' service aisle and no longer be in compliance with city regulations.
With this application, they are claiming that their diners will sit shoulder to shoulder while pinned against the wall to be in compliance. Even if diners were willing to sit that way (at a very expensive restaurant), would the restaurant then turn away anyone with above average or particularly large shoulders? Of course they would not and it would not even be legal to do so. Even in the best case scenario, it is clear that this cafe, as proposed, will not comply with city regulations. There is simply not enough room for 2 persons to sit side by side on this sidewalk and be in compliance with the law. What they have proposed is impossible.
And here is the proposed cafe configuration…
Those against the proposed cafe as it is now are suggesting that The Fourth reduce the number of tables to six. For their part part, CB2 denied the license. (Read a PDF of the proceedings
here.) We understand that the application will now go before City Council next Thursday.
Said the EVG reader: "The City Council could potentially force changes to the plan ... It should be an interesting lesson in local politics to see how it unfolds."
