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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jean Ryan, President of Disabled In Action of Metropolitan New York, on Outdoor Dining Accessibility
2:39:48
·
3 min
Jean Ryan, President of Disabled In Action of Metropolitan New York, testifies in favor of outdoor dining but emphasizes the critical need for accessibility in the new program. She highlights the lack of attention to disability access in previous discussions and expresses concerns about certain aspects of the new prototypes.
- Ryan criticizes the inaccessibility of many outdoor dining setups during the pandemic, including steps, steep ramps, and closely packed tables.
- She supports the new prototypes but worries about the potential for inaccessible ramps in some designs.
- Ryan emphasizes the importance of accessible seating options and criticizes the use of high stools and tables that exclude people with disabilities.
Jean Ryan
2:39:48
Hi.
2:39:49
I'm Jean Ryan.
2:39:51
I'm president of Disabled and Action of Metropolitan New York, DIA for short.
2:39:56
We are in favor of outdoor dining and we do not want to go back to the year round sheds which were mostly inaccessible to people with disabilities.
2:40:06
And for the record, the first time I heard anybody today talking about accessibility were from these two people at the table.
2:40:15
Nobody here mentioned it.
2:40:17
No council member and no restaurant person.
2:40:21
And no DOT person.
2:40:24
Some of us enjoy outdoor dining and like to eat out with our friends and families, but if an outdoor restaurant is not accessible to people with disabilities because it has a step up or down like what typically happened in the emergency ones, or has a steep ramp or the tables are too close together.
2:40:43
Restaurants do not get our business.
2:40:45
This is 2025.
2:40:47
'30 '5 years after the ADA was enacted.
2:40:51
You'd think the restaurant executives would want accessibility because it's good for business.
2:40:56
In the 2020 version of sheds, no amount of complaints by us, even by the mayor's office for people with disabilities, moped, made any difference.
2:41:06
We definitely do not want to go back to those bad old days.
2:41:10
And that was when the other agency was in charge.
2:41:14
And they did nothing about accessibility.
2:41:17
So people are saying you wanna go back to that agency and they did nothing?
2:41:22
You know, that doesn't make any sense to us.
2:41:25
I spent much time with architects working on what eventually became the new prototypes for restaurants.
2:41:32
We are in favor of the new prototypes, but we are extremely concerned about the one prototype that allows for a ramp because if there is no ramp available, then that outdoor restaurant is totally inaccessible to us.
2:41:46
I voiced this concern during the early discussions but DOT wanted to help more restaurants be able to be outdoors if the landscape was not level enough.
2:41:57
I need more time.
2:41:58
I can't breathe well.
2:41:59
Some of the sidewalk cafes had tall stools that we could not access instead of low tables and chairs that everyone can use.
2:42:09
It might be hip to have high stools and chairs and high tables, but they are inaccessible.
2:42:15
Then we can't even go to that place.
2:42:17
As the years went on, many sheds were eyesores People are not really talking about that today.
2:42:23
And many were not the economic engine that they were purported to be because of lack of staffed weight on tables outside and inside, and the shed smelled like rotten food that was rat fodder.
2:42:35
They were not hygienic.
2:42:37
Many sheds were abandoned or used for storage.
2:42:40
I saw Christmas trees and construction materials in the sheds, as well as stacked tables and chairs.
2:42:48
Streets are for everyone, not just for restaurants to have a structure on them year in and year out.
2:42:54
And nothing, some were nice, but most were shabby and unkempt and were not painted or kept up.
2:43:02
So, and
Julie Menin
2:43:02
just we have to give everyone the same amount of time.
2:43:04
I'm gonna ask you if you could please wrap up and then you can submit the testimony.
Michelle Craven
2:43:07
Yes,
Jean Ryan
2:43:08
so I just say that we want accessibility and that has to be a priority.