Launching America's Largest Outdoor Dining Program

Open Restaurants, an innovative idea that blossomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped keep a critical component of New York City’s economic engine in place. Now, with a new bill that was signed into law by Mayor Eric Adams, NYC will reinvent outdoor dining citywide.

In the latest installment of the Get Stuff Done Cast, Mayor Adams speaks with three New Yorkers with a vested interest in the creation of a vibrant new open restaurant infrastructure.

City Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez (D-13, the Bronx) championed the new bill and is determined to bring a new and more uniform version of the outdoor dining program to all five boroughs. Omar Canales, Operations Manager of Seis Vecinos Restaurant in the Bronx, is looking forward to streamlined regulations that will make it easier to open the doors for small restaurants to participate in this successful program. NYC’s Chief Public Realm Officer Ya-Ting Liu is excited by the prospect building out what will be America’s largest outdoor dining program, one that she hopes rivals that of the storied al fresco café culture that is synonymous with Paris, France.