NYC Restaurants, Dinner irritated by eating rules Al Fresco

Sunshine is in forecast, but the chance to eat fresco for New Yorkers is still low.

City restaurants say their upholstery in nature is limited or non-existent due to new regulations-which initially came into force last August and place a rope of size and cleaning restrictions-and a bureaucratic backwardness.

“So many people are calling and looking to book tables out, and I have to keep telling them,” Enrico Proietti, owner of the blue Bella on the upper side of birth, told Post.

Currently, the restaurant has only four tables for two, while waiting for the full approval of what it had before-a popular outdoor gazeman-seating for twice as much.

After applying for a permit month ago, Proietti finally had a magnification meeting aboard the community last week and is now in a holding model until a board votes on May 16.

“We all expect to set our structures, and they had to start [issuing approvals] In April, but it will surely be June before we have them, and by then, everyone will leave for Hamptons! “He said.

The Department of Transport (DOT) has received 3,200 applications for dining permit in nature. Of the remaining 2,600, there are approximately 1,800 sidewalks that are allowed to operate while they are being revised and about 800 larger configurations that lie on the streets that have been given conditional approval, as Dot has sought to trim the red tape that caused a quick reaction.

“The vast majority of the restaurants they applied were eligible to participate in the start of the dining season on the outside,” one spokesman Dot Post told him.

But 600 applications are still in the process and are not approved in any way, and only 82 restaurants-45 with sidewalk eating and 37 with road groups-full approval has been given.

“Dot realized that they had a backwardness at the end of winter, and began to derive conditional approval to try and accelerate things,” explained Mara Davis, deputy secretary of the municipal council. “” Because it took so long, [some restaurants] may not have designed or purchased any structure yet. “

Even for the appropriate dining of sidewalks (and not detailed structures that can be poured into parking lanes), community boards take 40 days to consider, and the city council receives 45, according to Dot. Once the community board meeting, depending on the result, can be required to hold a public meeting and the municipal council has an opportunity to consider. The restaurant also has to pay for advertising to make the public aware that the community board meeting is happening.

The approval process is complicated. Once applications are accepted, community board hearings must be held, and after receiving permits, a second round of community hearings may be granted before additional licenses from the state authority (SLA), which is required to serve booze abroad, can be given.

“We have to go back and forth between SLA and community boards at the top of business running and dealing with construction, put these people in a won situation,” said Max Crespo, co -owner of Cafe Roadway, a company that builds for many of the city’s highest restaurants, including Sant Ambroeus, Lure and Village.

Rosanna Scotto, whose Midtown restaurant Fresco from Scotto had a widespread lemon garden for 40 last year, filed her request last August. It was only approved for a scaled plan for this year that will only have seats for 12.

“The process is crazy,” she told the post. “We are planning it to be beautiful with lots of flowers, but it is very heavy and expensive. We [were] thousands of dollars in this without knowing if we [would] have approval. ”

Dinners are saturated.

On the last warm night of spring, Aly Josephs, a 23-year-old working in marketing, was so desperate to dinner outside, she was sharing a waist chair on Lexington Avenue with a friend.

“People are Hogging chairs; they stole the other immediately from our table,” she sighed. “We just want to be in the sun.”

“Sometimes, at this point, I just end up getting up and going to the park.”

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Josh Till, 27, who works in an insurance company and lives on the upper side of the birth, was lucky to get an outdoor place in the nearby social sojourn – a necessity as he has a dog.

“Before, before [we] can go almost anywhere, but now I need Google to find places [with outdoor seating]”He said.” Sometimes, at this point, I just rest by getting up and going to the park. “

Last week, the municipal council held a hearing to consider the release of new ordinances and the reduction of tariffs, though it will not yet change any policy.

“Many problems arose and many possible solutions arose,” Davis said. “We will appreciate for the possible next steps.”

Until then, making a sidewalk table is likely to be a challenge.

“Things are getting better,” Crespo said, “but now, it’s easier to find a loved one than an outdoor dining place in New York.”