Time is running out before the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) deadline for restaurants across the five boroughs to dismantle their roadway sheds by the end of the day Friday. Failing to adhere to this deadline could result in hefty fines of up to $1,000.
Under the policy established by City Council legislation, the roadway outdoor dining season operates annually from April 1 through Nov. 29.
While the roadway setups must be dismantled, sidewalk dining can proceed year-round, providing an alternative for restaurants looking to keep their outdoor experience alive.
“New Yorkers came to enjoy outdoor dining during the pandemic, and Dining Out NYC has made it a permanent, vibrant part of our streets,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement. “As the season for outdoor dining in our roadways draws to a close, I urge all businesses to act now and remove their setups to avoid costly violations.”
In an effort to streamline the removal and potential re-establishment of these outdoor dining setups, the DOT introduced the Dining Out NYC Marketplace, as amNewYork Metro previously reported.
This platform offers restaurants access to various products and services, including storage, setup, removal, and rental options.
As of Nov. 27, the NYC DOT has received 2,994 applications from restaurants to participate in the Dining Out NYC program, a significant increase compared to pre-COVID figures.
“It’s a testament to how the program has transformed the dining landscape in New York City,” Rodriguez said. “Our dining sector is adapting and thriving, and we’re here to support that growth.”
Restaurants interested in preparing for the next season can apply year-round for the Dining Out NYC program. The program’s website also features a Setup Menu that provides design options and access to the marketplace for purchasing or renting outdoor dining materials.
Restaurants interested in applying for the Dining Out NYC program can find more information online.
Freezing winter temperatures are around the corner, and as Brooklynites break out their winter coats and turn up the heat, volunteers are helping the borough’s thousands of feral cats get ready, too.
Brooklyn is home to thousands of feral felines, many of whom are used to life as a stray and prefer life outside, away from humans. But, no matter how street-savvy they are, cats are domestic animals, and they’re not suited for months exposed to cold temperatures and winter storms.
Enter volunteers from Flatbush Cats, who spent two Sundays this month building outdoor shelters for “community cats” around the borough.
Volunteers spent two Sundays this month building the shelters. Photo courtesy of Flatbush Cats
The shelters are simple, made from large rubber storage containers with holes for the cats to enter and exit, sealed with spray foam and filled with straw.
But they make a big impact for the cats, said Max Branch, Director of Community Programs at Flatbush Cats.
“We’ve gotten used to seeing cats outside, that doesn’t mean they’re able to fend for themselves,” Branch said. “Every cat that you see outside is being fed by someone, knowingly or unknowingly, and they’re looking for a warm place to shelter.”
Cats in search of warm, dry places often wiggle into car engines, or find their way into basements or garages they can’t always get back out of, Branch said. If they can’t find anywhere to go, they’re left to face the weather on their own.
“Cats aren’t designed to survive in these temperatures, and suffer negative outcomes because of that,” he said. “Not only are we providing a place that is a little warmer than outside, we’re also providing alternatives to these more dangerous spots outside where they would otherwise choose to shelter.”
Cats take shelter from the snow. Photo courtesy of Flatbush Cats
The 250 shelters built by Flatbush Cats this year were mostly distributed to colony caretakers — people who have taken on the responsibility for feeding and caring for feral cat colonies — around Brooklyn.
A well-built shelter will provide a cozy place for cats to weather the winter for about a year, Branch said, and they’re fairly inexpensive to build.
While the shelters are a necessity for outdoor cats, they’re not a solution to the stray cat crisis in Brooklyn or New York City as a whole.
“New York is a uniquely inhospitable place for community cats,” he said. “Not only the weather … but a myriad of dangers in their environment. You have everything from cars to poison that’s put out for pests, to a lack of access to medical care. This is one way we can make their lives slightly more comfortable, but it’s only really addressing a symptom of much larger problems.”
As the cost of pet care, especially veterinary costs, have risen, so too have shelter and stray populations in New York City. Without a city agency dedicated to maintaining feral populations, community caretakers and rescuers have taken on caring for those stray cats and keeping their populations under control through Trap-Neuter-Release and adoption.
Volunteers pose with some of the shelters after a work session on Nov. 24. Photo courtesy of Flatbush Cats
Rescuers struggle, though, to find affordable vet care, and shelters are strapped for space. Populations have continued to rise in and around Flatbush, Branch said.
And while many long-time strays are unfriendly to humans and content to be altered, vaccinated, and re-released, more and more are friendly and suitable to life indoors.
“What that tells us is that there are more and more cats outside that could have happy homes inside,” Branch said. “A large number of them most probably found themselves without homes through no fault of their own because outside forces are making it so that the people who love and care for them can no longer do so.”
In the short term, Brooklynites can help out by providing shelters and care for cats, Branch said, or look to foster and adopt shelter pets.
But longer-term, organizations like Flatbush Cats are looking for “upstream solutions,” like increased support for free or cheap vet care, to make sure New Yorkers can afford to care for and keep their pets and caretakers can afford to look after their colonies.
A cat snoozing in the straw. Photo courtesy of Flatbush Cats
If locals want to help out by building shelters for local cats themselves, instructions are available online, and the materials are relatively inexpensive, Branch said. If they want to take it a step further, and become a colony caretaker, he recommended starting by talking to neighbors to find out who else is helping care for the cats.
Then, he said, they can sign up for a TNR workshops, get to know local rescues and vets, and get to work.
“Talk to your neighbors, find out who’s feeding, and get together to see what you guys can do together to make sure not only that the cats have a warm place to stay and warm meals, but also access to spay/neuter so the two-cat situation on your block doesn’t become a 20 cat situation, which can happen incredibly quickly,” Branch said.
Thanks to our insistence, @NYSEDNews has confirmed that their regionalization plan will remain entirely optional for school districts.
This is a win for communities across New York, ensuring that decisions about our schools are made by the families they serve — not by mandates. pic.twitter.com/iIwNTwuL5s
A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday said she is “inclined” to appoint a federal receiver to oversee the use of force and safety on Rikers Island — moving the jail complex the closest it has ever been to federal control.
US District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain’s statement was part of a Nov. 27 ruling in which she found the city Department of Correction to be in violation of multiple court orders to get rampant violence on Rikers under control.
“The court is inclined to impose a receivership: namely, a remedy that will make the management of the use of force and safety aspects of the Rikers Island jails ultimately answerable directly to the court,” Swain wrote.
The judge ordered all parties in the case to devise a plan for receivership by a Jan. 14 deadline.
In her decision, Swain sided with the Legal Aid Society in holding the city in contempt of the 2015 consent decree Nunez v. the City of New York, which ordered the city to make significant changes to curtail violence in the jail complex on Rikers Island. The Legal Aid Society, which represents detainees within the city’s jails, made the contempt motion late last year.
The judge also found the city Department of Correction to have violated three subsequent court orders over the past decade.
In fact, Swain wrote conditions the city was ordered to meaningfully stem over the past nine years, such as the use of force, stabbings, slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and deaths in custody, remain “extremely high.”
“There has been no substantial reduction in the risk of harm currently facing those who live and work in the Rikers Island jails,” she wrote. “Worse still, the unsafe and dangerous conditions in the jails, which are characterized by unprecedented rates of use of force and violence, have become normalized despite the fact that they are clearly abnormal and unacceptable.”
Numerous reports issued by Steven Martin—the federal monitor in the case—over the past several years supported much of the judge’s ruling.
Amaris Cockfield, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams, did not directly address the contempt ruling in an emailed statement.
Instead, she said the administration has made “significant progress” in addressing the “decades-long neglect and issues” on Rikers — especially under the leadership of DOC Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, whom Adams appointed late last year,
“Commissioner Maginley-Liddie has also proven herself to the court and the monitor as the necessary steady hand to continue protecting those in our care and who work for the DOC,” Cockfield said in a statement. “We are proud of our work, but recognize there is more to be done and look forward to working with the federal monitoring team on our shared goal of continuing to improve the safety of everyone in our jails.”
The mayor has publicly railed against a federal takeover of Rikers Island on many occasions, insisting the city is in the best position to improve conditions at the facility.
Meanwhile, Legal Aid commended Judge Swain, in its own statement, for issuing what it called a “historic ruling.”
“As the court found, the city has repeatedly demonstrated its inability to provide the oversight necessary to ensure the safety of all individuals housed in local jails,” the group said. “We laud this ruling, which will finally create a pathway for reform that can protect those who DOC’s leadership has failed by making leadership accountable to the court and not political authorities.”
It’s unacceptable that members of the incoming administration are being targeted with violence & harassment. @nyspolice are responding & we are working closely with federal partners to protect those targeted. Everyone deserves to feel safe at work & in their communities.
