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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Sandy Rayburn, Member of the Public
3:31:01
·
128 sec
Sandy Rayburn, a long-time New York City resident, strongly opposes the Hospitality Alliance's proposal to make outdoor dining permanent and year-round on public streets and sidewalks. She argues that this proposal would privatize public space, violate the public trust doctrine, and undermine accessibility, mobility, and equity for all New Yorkers.
- Rayburn criticizes the existing program for causing issues such as blocked sidewalks, rodent infestations, noise pollution, and ADA violations.
- She points out that the Department of Transportation has failed to properly oversee and enforce the program since its inception.
- Rayburn urges the council to reject the proposal and defend public streets and sidewalks for all residents.
Sandy Rayburn
3:31:01
Okay.
3:31:02
Good morning.
3:31:03
I'm a resident.
3:31:04
Peter references us as references, as residents.
3:31:09
We, of 80 of New York City for eighty years.
3:31:12
I strongly oppose Hospitality Alliance's proposal to make outdoor dining permanent and year round on our public streets and sidewalks.
3:31:21
Public space is not a perk for paying customers.
3:31:25
It's a shared right.
3:31:26
They are a lobbying group for private and corporate interests and their proposal is exclusion dressed as inclusion and deregulation disguised as reform.
3:31:38
This is not about supporting small business.
3:31:41
It is about the permanent privatization of public space.
3:31:45
Sidewalks and roadways belong to all New Yorkers including residents like me.
3:31:52
Turning them into commercial real estate violates the public trust doctrine and undermines accessibility, mobility and equity.
3:32:01
It is not our responsibility to be de facto investors in their business success and to ensure that they quote breakeven.
3:32:11
The Alliance wants to reduce clearances and expand year round operations, but the existing program already showed us the consequences of over five years, blocked sidewalks, rodent infestations, harmful oppressive noise entering into our homes after long days work, and serious violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
3:32:34
These dying sheds turned the city into an obstacle course, impossible to navigate safely for wheelchair users, seniors or parents with strollers.
3:32:44
And let's not forget the Department of Transportation, which is tasked with the oversight, has failed to steward this program responsibly since its inception.
3:32:55
They are the alleged inspectors yet a force enforcement was lapsed, commune complaints were unanswered,
UNKNOWN
3:33:02
and none of officers
Sandy Rayburn
3:33:04
continue to deliver it.
3:33:05
I urge you to reject it and to defend our streets and sidewalks.