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Q&A
Restaurant owners address sanitation concerns in outdoor dining
1:12:24
·
143 sec
Council Member Ossé asks restaurant owners to respond to criticisms about sanitation and rat issues related to outdoor dining. Multiple owners provide their perspectives on the matter.
- Restaurant owners argue that sanitation is a broader city issue, not specific to outdoor dining
- They highlight that keeping spaces sanitary is already a requirement for restaurant operations
- Owners explain how new regulations address potential issues, particularly for roadway dining setups
- There's a consensus that sanitation concerns are not a valid reason to oppose the outdoor dining program
Chi A. Ossé
1:12:24
Is the main talking point that we hear in terms of why outdoor dining was bad was because of rats and sanitation.
1:12:35
I just want to yield some time to some of the business owners here that I believe are I believe that you guys being here alone shows that you're upstanding business owners and are doing a good job and care about your communities and care about your business.
1:12:50
What do you respond to that in terms of, you know, the the sanitation issue that that people try to pose to to to belittle this program?
Crizette Woods
1:13:00
I mean, I don't think the program has that effect.
1:13:05
I mean, it's New York City, I feel.
1:13:06
That's another topic, but I feel like the city can do a whole lot more to assist us in those issues.
1:13:11
But, you know, you have we're restaurant owners, so we have to comply and keep a sanitary space whether it's inside or outside.
Robert Guarino
1:13:20
Yeah.
1:13:20
And I'd I'd just say I think it's another another area where where the challenges of roadway are being conflated with sidewalk.
1:13:27
As sidewalk is without a structure, with just tables and chairs, there's I don't see an issue there where we've built structures in the side.
1:13:34
Now we've all learned that you need to be careful and the new regulations require you to raise the floor and clean underneath because you're providing a place for a harborage.
1:13:42
So that was never an issue with the old sidewalk program.
1:13:46
It is a concern that needs to be addressed in the roadway program, but I think there are certainly steps that the program has covered to make that less of an issue.
Megan Rickerson
1:13:55
I had both iterations, so obviously I had the sandbags and took my two door stick shift to pick up a lot of sandbags.
1:14:02
It was a fun day for me.
1:14:06
I believe that the rules put forth now pretty much negate that.
1:14:10
I mean, all of my sidewall or my panels in my street seating come up, sweep under.
1:14:15
So I think it's kind of a like a mute point at like, that's just like a low hanging fruit to say that this program won't work.
1:14:23
We fixed the problems that we learned from the emergency program, and that's not really an issue.
1:14:29
We work in food.
1:14:30
So we have the Department of Health coming in.
1:14:33
We are tasked with not making people sick, with keeping them safe, with not over serving.
1:14:39
So I think rats and outdoor dining is just the easiest target when we're literally tasked with keeping people safe every day.