Open Restaurants to be a Year Round Permanent NYC Fixture Says Mayor

NYC Mayor de Blasio today announced that Open Restaurants would be permanent and taking place year round.

The announcement came during his appearance on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show.

“I’m announcing that we will make the Open Restaurants initiative permanent and year round,” said the Mayor. “I want us to go for the gold here. I want us to really take this model and make it part of the life of New York City for years and generations to come.”

He also stated that Open Streets will continue in conjunction with Open Restaurants and that scenarios wherein streets were closed entirely would continue and possibly be taken farther.

“… we’re going to work with the City Council. Some of this will be – will require legislation, other pieces or administrative. But this is a-go.”

Mr. Lehrer asked about situations involving outdoor dining that’s enclosed and whether that constitutes indoor dining.

The Mayor stated, “Let’s say you have a restaurant Brian, you have that area outdoors. If you say, I want to fully enclose it, it’ll be easier to heat it, it’ll be a better atmosphere. Great. But you do it with the limits currently in place. Right now that means 25 percent capacity. Hopefully that will grow as we continue to fight back the virus.”

It should be noted that indoor dining is scheduled to begin on September 30 with a reassessment on November 1. As long as the health metrics remain acceptable then the 25% limited capacity may be raised to 50%.