{"id":200590,"date":"2026-04-17T11:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T11:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/200590\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T11:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T11:41:14","slug":"fridays-headlines-wither-outdoor-dining-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/200590\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday’s Headlines: Wither Outdoor Dining Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

We learned the hard way on Thursday night what the Times reported<\/a> on Thursday morning: Outdoor dining has withered and died.<\/p>\n

Only 500 restaurants and bars have set up curbside dining this year, city officials told the Times \u2014 down from many thousands at the height of the pandemic-era al fresco program. <\/p>\n

Working our way across the Village on Thursday evening, we encountered spot-after-spot with hour-long waits for its precious few outdoor seats. Barely any restaurants had set up in the roadway \u2014 the ones that had were all filled up.<\/p>\n

The first \u201coutdoor dining season\u201d after Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams decimated the program began on April 1 and is now in full effect \u2014 yet the City Council has not passed fixes that Speaker Julie Menin announced in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Times quoted Council Member Lincoln Restler dinging the ex-Mayor Adams for decimating the program with \u201cextensive red tape.\u201d The ex-mayor\u2019s administration deserves some of the blame<\/a> for the program\u2019s collapse, but not all \u2014 it was the Council under Speaker Adams who ultimately passed the legislation.<\/p>\n

Sadly, things don\u2019t seem to be moving fast enough to fix those mistakes for 2026, which is gearing up to be the king of hot that sends New Yorkers into the streets.<\/p>\n

In other news:<\/p>\n

New Jersey is playing hardball with FIFA and threatening to charge $150 for train tickets to World Cup games if the football and grift association doesn\u2019t cough up more money. (The Athletic<\/a>, Gothamist<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Gov. Mikie Sherrill blamed her predecessor Phil Murphy:<\/p>\n

Hemos heredado un acuerdo en el que la FIFA no aporta ni un solo d\u00f3lar para el transporte del mundial.\u2070\u2070Y mientras NJ Transit se queda con una factura de 48 millones de d\u00f3lares para transportar de manera segura a 40,000 fan\u00e1ticos desde el estadio hacia donde vayan, la FIFA esta\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/e5JvlkRGhp<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Governor Mikie Sherrill (@GovSherrillNJ) April 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Vital City<\/a> released an amazing interactive map of an MIT study about pedestrian flows in New York City, which we covered<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

Weekend subway ridership growth is outpacing weekday subway ridership growth. (Brooklyn Eagle<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Trump administration finally relented and paid the MTA the money it owed for the Second Avenue Subway. (Politico<\/a>, amNY<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u2026 as the president \u201cyanked\u201d $74 million in federal highway grants amid a dispute over immigrant truck drivers. (NY Post<\/a>, ABC7NY<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Gov. Hochul wants to spend half of her pied-\u00e0-terre tax on public sector pensions. (NY Post<\/a>) <\/p>\n

Channel 4\u2019s story about \u201cbusiness concerns\u201d about the 72nd Street bike lane featured just one business, with many unfounded concerns. (NBC New York<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Mayor Mamdani gave Hell Gate<\/a> a non-answer about the future of the BQE.<\/p>\n

Two drivers struck and killed a 74-year-old man walking across the FDR Drive near East Houston Street. (Gothamist<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Gov. Hochul wants Mayor Mamdani to \u201cslow spending\u201d in exchange for more state funding. (NYS Focus<\/a>)<\/p>\n