Last week, October 4, a New York court ruled that the city will retain covered street patios of restaurants equipped so businesses can serve guests on the street during the pandemic. It will remain permanently – more than 12,500 organizations will have to complete the design and operating standards of their pavilions.
The decision was to the delight of restaurant operators and city officials. And the dissatisfaction of the townspeople, who filed a lawsuit in August with a demand for the closure of the verandas. The fact is that social activists see in such pavilions not only an opportunity to eat in the fresh air, but also a breeding ground for mice and a shelter for the homeless.
As residents of areas with patio restaurants told The New York Post, this neighborhood gives them a lot of inconvenience.
“It makes me sick to think about what happens when they don’t work at these facilities. I can’t believe people agree to eat on the patio. [ресторана] carbon [рядом с кучей мусора]”,
Alexandra, 31, who works in the Midtown area, filed a complaint with the publication.
He admitted that at the beginning of the epidemic he also liked to sit on the porches of restaurants, but when he found a row of cockroaches under his feet in one of the downtown establishments, he decided that enough was enough.
helayne seidmannypost.com
Within the scope of the Open Restaurants program (“Open Restaurants”) in 2020, covered pavilions were built in restaurants in order to support the restaurant operators who were damaged during the pandemic process.
“At first I really liked it all – I dreamed of dining under street heaters in low season in Europe, but I was surprised by the lack of any standard norms that could be introduced over time,” Alexandra shared.
Criticize the authorities’ decision and on Twitter. Angry citizens began flooding in after the City Planning Department published a post applauding the court decision and declaring al fresco dining “the future bright”.
“And who’s with the people of New York? That’s not true. These mansions are a thorn in the city’s eyes. Their work is unregulated and many restaurants take advantage of this: they have tables inside, outside and on the sidewalks. Where to turn?” How will he protect himself from his addicts?” wrote the critics of the court decision.
In early August 2022, a lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan court by a group of 35 activists demanding the closure of restaurant patios. They said that the Open Restaurants program, which was put into practice at the peak of the pandemic, no longer works.
According to the authors of the case, there is no longer any danger to those who eat inside and all the hygiene restrictions imposed in the city during the spread of the coronavirus infection have been lifted.
“The open restaurant program has evolved from a pleasant urban element that provides healthy, balanced benefits to businesses and residents, to an amalgamation of ugly barracks saturated with alcohol, marked by unsanitary conditions and high levels of noise,” the townspeople said in a statement. Declaration.
“I think it’s disgusting. There is no overall plan for how many restaurants will be allowed to have alfresco dining areas and how this will affect the life of the city. “There is no planning and no control,” one of the activists, Tanya Bonner, told Patch.
Lawyer Michael Sussman, who represents the interests of the townspeople, also told the Daily News about the lack of control over restaurants. He described the attitude of the authorities, which was implemented because of urgent need, when the program was no longer needed, as paradoxical.
Bebeto Matthews/AP
Rats became a particular problem, where the “huts” became the perfect home. “I am confident that the current design of most outdoor eating facilities allows rats to feel safe,” city councilor Sandy Nurse told the same portal.
This was confirmed in an interview with Benito Camacho, an employee of the Manhattan sanitary service VJ Pest Management, which deals with rodent control. “Many businesses, especially restaurants, closed when COVID-19 hit. And you know rats, they always find a warm place for themselves,” he explained.
The man admitted that in his 15 years of work, he had never seen as many rats in the city as he does now. “All the leftover food – they fall to the floor. Restaurants can clean tables and those around them, but they don’t clean underneath. [под верандами], because it is impossible. But do you know? Mice do that,” Camacho said.
Indeed, in the summer of 2020, the media wrote that rats starving for the epidemic flooded open eating areas.
“There are a lot of new burrows under the plants. A mouse hit the guest’s leg last night—you can imagine his reaction,” restaurateur Giacomo Romano told NBC News.
Despite the discontent of New Yorkers, the issue remained unresolved. All the authorities did was to demolish the pavilions of the already closed restaurants in August 2022, which turned out to be an area of ”anti-social behavior”. Thus, the city’s mayor, Eric Adams, showed his readiness to fight for a more comfortable urban environment. But only with the preservation of the Open Restaurants program. “I want to be very clear: The Open Restaurants program continues,” he said in August of this year.
Source: Gazeta
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