Good afternoon. My name is Maulin Mehta and I am New York Director at Regional Plan Association. RPA is a nearly 100-year-old civic organization working towards better transit, safer streets and more opportunity for the New York City metropolitan region. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments today on the proposed Open Restaurants zoning text amendment.
The proposed amendment is the first step to making sure a permanent Open Restaurants program is equitable and accessible to all who want to participate, and we’re happy to be here in support of it.
The Open Restaurants program has been a lifeline for the industry and nearly 12,000 restaurants have participated in some way. Were it not for the emergency order suspending Chapter 4 of the zoning resolution, thousands of restaurants would not have been able to participate — which would have meant more jobs and small businesses lost, less vibrancy on our streets and limited options for New Yorkers to safely connect with one another during the height of the pandemic.
And as the Delta variant and breakthrough cases continue to pose a risk, this winter will be another trying time for the hospitality industry. We have already lost thousands of restaurants around the city, and the number of restaurant employees has dropped by nearly 40% since December 2019. On-going staff and supply shortages have prevented restaurants from fully operating even as indoor dining returned. The end of eviction moratorium could also create hardship for an industry that is barely hanging on.
Not only has the Open Restaurants program helped to save businesses, it has provided a new opportunity to repurpose our streets to prioritize people over cars. This is especially critical at a time when volume on MTA Bridge and Tunnel crossings is up 115% compared to pre-pandemic levels and we’ve tragically seen a 30% jump in traffic fatalities. Less than 1% of street parking has been replaced to support new vibrancy to our City streets. Many businesses go above and beyond simply serving their customers. They provide seating and shelter for their neighbors, community events to connect local artists and residents, and help serve as leaders in their community, creating a new network to share knowledge and lift up other struggling entrepreneurs.
Challenges continue to persist with issues around ad-hoc design, street management, sanitation, and program enforcement giving rise to animosity towards the program and a desire to end it after the pandemic subsides. We think these can be overcome. Termination of the program would be a tragic step backwards for the recovery of the city’s service economy and designing our streets for equity.
Instead, we must work hard to ensure the permanent program is developed with a values-based approach to ensure equity and sustainability. We must examine how the program is structured through multiple lenses. Whether that’s ensuring freight delivery, addressing quality of life concerns raised by communities, reevaluating the trade-off in street uses, or ensuring accessibility for all.
For RPA, we’re excited to be working with the Design Trust for Public Space and Tri-State Transportation Campaign through the Alfresco NYC coalition, and this Fall we’ll launch a series of roundtables to investigate the issues, bring together a range of stakeholders, and identify best practices.
We look forward to working with the City to ensure these ideas are shared and for the successful implementation of the permanent Open Restaurants and Open Streets programs. Thank you for your time.
