Thursday, August 13, 2026, 10 a.m. (New York City time), 250 Broadway - 8th Floor - Hearing Room 1
Committee: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
0:12 Welcome to today's New York
0:12 City Council vote on committee
0:15 on transportation and
0:17 infrastructure at this time
0:19 during today's vote, no 1
0:21 approach the dais, please
0:22 silence annual training
0:23 devices that you might have a
0:24 chair. You begin good morning
0:28 and welcome to today's hearing
0:29 of the New York City Council's
0:32 committee on transportation
0:32 infrastructure. I'm counselor.
0:34 Majority, don't you have this
0:35 committee at today's hearing,
0:36 the committee will vote on the
0:37 following legislation related
0:38 to the city's outdoor dining
0:41 program.
0:42 Proposed intro number 6 5 5
0:43 a sponsored by council Lincoln
0:45 wrestler in relation t
0:46 oexpanding access to roadways
0:48 , cafes propose in show number
0:51 8 9 4, a sponsored by counsel
0:52 Gale Brewer in relation t
0:54 overtical, insular ization
0:55 coverings for sidewalk cafes
0:57 proposed intro number 9 17
0:58 sponsored by council Justin
1:02 Sanchez in relation t
1:03 osanitation. Sorry
1:03 , and claim this requirements
1:05 for roadway inside walk cafes
1:08 and propose into a number 9 1
1:09 8, a sponsored by council
1:11 members Henry in relation to
1:13 paying sidewalk and roll the
1:15 cafe revocable consent,
1:16 compensation and quarterly
1:19 installments. Also at today's
1:20 hearing, the committee will
1:23 hear and I'm laughing at
1:25 Justin. Sorry, guys also at
1:27 today's hearing, the committee
1:27 will hear and vote on to pre
1:30 considered resolutions which
1:32 ,respectively set forth the
1:33 council findings concerning
1:35 the environmental review
1:36 conducted for proposing intro
1:37 number 6 5 5 a as well as for
1:40 a proposal number 8 9 for a
1:41 before we begin. I'd like to
1:45 thank my staff and the
1:45 committee staff for their hard
1:46 work in preparing for today's
1:47 hearing, lisa quickly, my
1:48 deputy chief of staff old
1:49 miller and sarah townsend
1:51 councils to the committee and
1:52 Kevin kotowski and john basile
1:54 islands of the committee. I
1:55 would also.
1:56 Like to thank the staff of
1:57 the consumer will welcome
1:58 protection committee, sarah
2:00 swain and allie meltzer for
2:01 their efforts on the bills
2:01 being put on today, I will
2:03 . Now pass it on to counsel
2:05 wrestling to provide an
2:05 opening on his bill.
2:09 Thank you so much chair by
2:10 you. I really appreciate it.
2:11 You.
2:11 Was about three years ago
2:13 that the adams administration
2:15 and this council, uh, updated
2:19 the outdoor dining program and
2:23 unfortunately, uh, the
2:24 legislation that was passed a
2:25 few years ago, I did not work.
2:27 We have seen a really
2:31 calamitous decline in the
2:32 number of restaurants that
2:33 participate in after dining
2:34 across the City of New York
2:36 during covid, there were 8000
2:38 restaurants that we're
2:39 offering outdoor dining today.
2:40 We're well under 800, so 90%
2:43 of the restaurants that used
2:45 to offer outdoor dining that
2:47 used to and provide a great
2:48 place for all of us to enjoy
2:50 an outdoor meal are no longer
2:52 available and the number one
2:54 reason why restaurants say
2:55 they're not providing after
2:57 dining
2:57 . Anymore is because it is
2:59 stupidly expensive to build
3:01 and disc and deconstruct and
3:02 store these after dining
3:03 structures during the winter
3:06 months
3:06 . So you be wondering, you
3:07 know, am I really going t
3:08 oenjoy a meal in outside, I
3:12 tragically with climate chang
3:13 e. There are a lot more warm
3:14 days than there used to be,
3:16 but the real the most salient
3:18 benefit of this legislation is
3:19 that they're going to be
3:20 thousands of additional
3:22 restaurants across every one
3:23 of our neighborhoods that are
3:24 offering outdoor dining and a
3:25 great place for us to enjoy a
3:28 meal outdoors.
3:28 You know one thing that the
3:29 the seasonal program did get
3:31 right, is that it addressed
3:33 cleanliness issues around out
3:34 there dining structures last
3:35 year there were just 11 30
3:38 0complaints 11 3 1 complaint
3:39 sabout cleanliness and after
3:40 dining structures in the City
3:42 of New York by insisting that
3:44 all of the furniture is
3:45 readily removable that the
3:47 floors are removed. Once a
3:48 week and cleaned. We have, I
3:51 think effectively addressed
3:52 rat and garbage issues around
3:53 our after dining structures,
3:54 all of those same policies
3:56 remain in place as we make the
3:57 program year.
3:58 Round to address very real
3:59 quality of life issues across
4:02 our communities and with the
4:06 council of, um what? They kind
4:07 of advice of council members
4:08 from lower manhattan like cat
4:10 s, remember mart and Epstein
4:12 and Wilson, we've reduced the
4:13 hours 2 11 o'clock currently
4:16 after dining structures can
4:16 stay open until midnight, and
4:18 sidewalk cafes as well. Now
4:19 they will all close at 11 p. M
4:23 . Uh oh. This is great for our
4:24 economy last year with the
4:26 exception of hummel fates are
4:27 the private workforce in New
4:29 York City actually shrunk, but
4:31 controller lander did a great
4:32 study that found that every
4:33 restaurant that adds after
4:34 dining at the job. So if we
4:35 can add thousands of after
4:37 dining structures across the
4:38 City. Those are thousands of
4:39 good jobs that New yorkers can
4:42 benefit from I am thrille
4:43 dthat we are passing this
4:45 legislation, that is great for
4:46 restaurants, that's great for
4:47 hospitality workers, but most
4:48 of all, it's great for all of
4:49 us to be able to enjoy a meal
4:50 outside, enjoying the
4:51 streetscape of New York
4:53 . City um, speaker manon has
4:55 speaker, um, back last summer
5:00 she was, she was conspiring
5:02 with me about how we could try
5:03 to pass and move this
5:06 legislation. I want to thank
5:06 her and jonathan from her team
5:08 in particular for really being
5:09 steadfast in their support for
5:11 this bill, the alleged
5:12 division did a brilliant job
5:14 in navigating this. I really
5:15 want to thank rachel cordero
5:16 and sarah swain who I think
5:17 just flew back from egypt just
5:18 for this. I'm just kidding.
5:20 But, um but we're really
5:21 grateful for their help, my
5:22 chief of staff is brilliant.
5:25 Molly is the brains behind
5:26 everything we do, and I really
5:26 appreciate her hard work on
5:29 this, and there were many,
5:30 many folks who supported this
5:32 open plans, transportation
5:33 alternatives. The hospitality
5:34 alliance and and most of all
5:35 the small businesses around
5:37 New York City, who told their
5:39 stories and explained how the
5:40 seasonal program just quite
5:42 simply, did not work and we
5:43 needed to fix it. You know we
5:44 need to be more clear eyed in
5:47 government
5:48 . Of recognizing when policies
5:49 fail and fixing them. That is
5:50 exactly what we're doing today
5:51 and I'm really proud that we
5:54 restoring outdoor dining t
5:55 oits previous glory. Thank you,
5:58 tara bray. You really
5:59 appreciate your strong support
6:00 .
6:00 Here. Congratulations.
6:00 Council Member. I will now
6:01 pass it on to castle with
6:03 Thomas Henry to provide a
6:04 nopening statement on her bill.
6:05 Thank you, chair
6:07 . Since stepping into the role
6:08 as the chair of the committee
6:10 on small business I've had the
6:11 honor and the privilege of
6:14 touring businesses across all
6:15 five boroughs in New York City
6:16 and what stood out with each
6:18 and every one of them was the
6:19 cost of doing business is
6:21 getting harder and harder so
6:23 in o 918 would allow sidewalk
6:25 and roadways cafe operators to
6:28 pay their annual revocable
6:31 consent that is currently
6:32 being paid annually to be
6:34 broken up into quarterly
6:37 installments, alleviating just
6:38 a small tidbit of the
6:40 financial burden that so many
6:40 of our businesses face across
6:43 the City, so to all those
6:44 restaurants that we toured and
6:46 visited. This bill is for you.
6:55 Thank you. All right. I will
6:56 anyone else like to speak on
6:57 the bills today saying no, no,
7:01 we're now actually committee
7:01 clerk to call the.
7:02 Rome. Thank you. Good
7:04 morning, william martin
7:05 committee clark roll call vote
7:07 committee on transportation
7:09 and infrastructure all items
7:12 are coupled. I would I? Lewis.
7:19 Brooks Powers, come there,
7:25 but I inuits, I honey, I
7:40 Krishnan mart.
7:41 Ivo ion awe and abstained
7:42 from intro 6 5 5 a day. Verena
7:50 Sanchez. I am. I wanted t
7:52 ocongratulate on my colleagues
7:53 on the bill. One, Justin
8:06 Sanchez I one eye on intro 9 7
8:10 2 9 17 intro hundred 18 and no
8:12 one inch o 6 5 5 and no one
8:14 inch, oh, 8 9 4. Thank you.
8:19 Thank you. Thank you following
8:54 results introduction 8 9 4
8:56 ,had a has been adopted by the
8:57 committee with seven in the
8:58 affirmative, one of the
9:00 negative. No abstentions
9:01 introduction 6 5 5 a adopted
9:03 by the committee, which six in
9:04 the affirmative, one of the
9:04 negative one abstention and
9:07 all the items have been
9:08 adopted by the committee with
9:09 eight in the affirmative. Zer
9:10 othe negative and no
9:14 abstentions with that this
9:16 vote