recently shared on Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\nThe restaurateur showed her followers her odyssey to try to get face time with a DOT worker \u201c107 days\u201d after applying for a permit.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery nice day that it\u2019s outside, it\u2019s a lot of lost revenue for us,\u201d she recorded herself telling a faceless bureaucrat, who replied: \u201cI can\u2019t promise anything right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of Wednesday, she still hadn\u2019t had any luck.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have spent thousands on lawyers and expeditors and so much of our time on all this stuff,\u201d she told Side Dish. \u201cWe really need the outdoor seating for our business model to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have spent thousands on lawyers and expeditors and so much of our time on all this stuff,\u201d Zhang told Side Dish. Ziggy\u00e2s Roman Cafe \/ Instagram<\/p>\n
Steep fees<\/p>\n
Permit applications for either roadway dining, which lasts April to November, or sidewalk dining, possible year-round, cost $2,100 a pop \u2014 plus a security deposit of $1,500 to $2,500. With legal fees, payments to the city for use of public space that are based on square footage, and costs of providing notices for local community board hearings, the price of an application can run up to tens of thousands of dollars, according to Rigie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to dine al fresco, and restaurants want to put people to work and generate revenue,\u201d he said, adding that smaller restaurants in the outer boroughs with less access to cash are the ones losing out the most.<\/p>\n
He called on Mayor Mamdani\u2019s administration to take action, suggesting it and the City Council\u00a0\u201ccould allow restaurants to start operating their outdoor dining while the city finishes up their backend bureaucratic steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rigie called Mayor Mamdani\u2019s administration to take action, suggesting it and the City Council \u201ccould allow restaurants to start operating their outdoor dining while the city finishes up their backend bureaucratic steps.\u201d Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n
Mamdani\u2019s office did not immediately answer a request for comment.<\/p>\n
A DOT spokesperson blamed \u201cthe law,\u201d not bureaucracy, and contended \u201cthere really isn\u2019t a backlog of applications.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe law simply requires a long, multi-step approval process\u00a0\u2014 review at DOT, community boards, elected officials, the comptroller, architectural renderings, public hearings\u201d and more, the flack noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cA restaurant can run into hang-ups at any one of these stages,\u201d the spokesperson said, adding that DOT has called on the Council to reform the law.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Permit applications for either roadway dining, which lasts April to November, or sidewalk dining, possible year-round, cost $2,100 a pop \u2013 plus a security deposit of $1,500 to $2,500. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Flawed system<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole system that the city set up for this process was not really thought out very well,\u201d said\u00a0restaurant lawyer Joseph Levey, who reps 100 establishments that have been waiting, some for over a year, to get their outdoor dining permits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople started applying with the expectation that they\u2019d be open for the season \u2014 last year,\u201d the attorney told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople wrote checks, and they were cashed, but there is no timetable, which is incredibly frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople have no idea what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, many restaurant owners are reluctant to go public.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cPeople are scared to speak out, afraid that their applications will be denied or fall into a black hole,\u201d Levey said.<\/p>\n
Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen, owner of Diner24 NYC, says the permit process was already difficult, but under Mamdani\u2019s \u201canti-business\u201d regime, it has become even more so. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n
Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen<\/a> says the permit process was already difficult, but under Mamdani\u2019s \u201canti-business\u201d regime, it has become even more so.<\/p>\nMorfogen, who owns Diner24 NYC, said he\u2019s still waiting for his permit after applying in September \u2014even though the city cashed his check in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incompetence,\u201d he fumed. \u201cThey are overwhelmed and understaffed. Mamdani is in over his head. He\u2019s never run a small business or had a private sector job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the pandemic, the city has also had more \u201cred tape and it\u2019s more difficult to get to the finish line,\u201d Morfogen added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMamdani is in over his head,\u201d Morfogen said. \u201cHe\u2019s never run a small business or had a private sector job.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201c[Mayor] Eric Adams promised to help small business, but he didn\u2019t. I didn\u2019t think it could get any worse, but it has.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem with a guy like Mamdani is that he has no one around him to help small business \u2026 He has surrounded himself with anti-business socialists, and this is how you chase big business and small business out. He\u2019s killing big business and small business. I\u2019m afraid to see what the city will look like in three years,\u201d Morfogen said.<\/p>\n
All the red tape \u201ccan stretch the approval process to six or even nine months or more \u2013 far longer than many restaurants can reasonably wait,\u201d a DOT spokesperson acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Rigie and Morfogen said that\u2019s no excuse, noting the State Liquor Authority grants temporary licenses after restaurants have pending approval and saying DOT should do the same.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a disaster,\u201d Rigie said. \u201cPeople are at their wits\u2019 end.\u201d<\/p>\n
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