Dinner with rats: how New York's new rules turned the city into a capital of rodents

The exact numbers are hard to come up with, but the number of calls to the New York City hotline mentioning rodent numbers this year has increased by 15% from pre-pandemic levels. Residents blame outdoor restaurants for this, reports with the BBC.

Diem Boyd was sitting on the summer terrace of a restaurant in New York's fashionable Greenwich Village in September, when her feet began to scurry rat family.

“After a few seconds, everyone jumped up,” she says. "We've lost our appetite."

“Everyone in New York has similar stories,” says Diem. "There is a complete and absolute rat explosion in the city."

Deborah Gonzalez, like Diem, lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

“When you walk this block, you see the rats running back and forth,” she confirms.

“There have always been rats in New York, obviously,” says Marcell Rocha.

What changed

Diem, Deborah and Marcell blamed the new plague on the open-air restaurants that spread throughout the city during the pandemic. This encourages many more people to eat at outdoor tables.

Hundreds of New York streets are now closed (often on both sides) with special shelters that completely change the cityscape. To give you an idea of ​​the scale, there are over 11 new outdoor restaurants here.

Some of these new platforms are nothing more than a frame and a row of chairs. Others look like sturdy structures with floors, garlands, flower pots and electric heaters.

Despite the inconvenience, outdoor dining is popular

Diem, Deborah and Marcell say the awnings contribute to the accumulation of black garbage bags on the roadside. These mountains of debris provide the perfect shelter for rats under the floorboards.

However, these institutions over the past year and a half, they have gained immense popularity among customers, they are in demand among local residents.

“This is a real hell on earth because of the crowd and noise,” complains Marcell. “The Lower East Side has always been a busy area, but last summer it could have been called 'festival life,'” he explains.

At the start of the pandemic, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio launched an open restaurant scheme. This was part of a broader vision of the city, with less traffic and more emphasis on residents and visitors. But above all, it has become a lifeline for the hospitality industry.

Outdoor dining restrictions will be lifted

The original permission to create outdoor dining areas was a temporary emergency measure ahead of the pandemic. But in late 2020, as indoor dining began to resume, the mayor announced he wanted to make widespread outdoor dining a permanent feature.

“Open Restaurants was a big and daring experiment to support a vital industry and reimagine our public space - and it worked,” said Bill de Blasio.

The City Council is the elected body that governs the affairs of New York City. He is currently discussing and voting to end zoning rules restricting outdoor dining.

The move angered Diem, Marcella and Deborah. They say there has been no proper assessment of the impact of restaurant awnings. The three, along with over a dozen other residents, have filed a lawsuit. People want to force the city to take a closer look at the impact of the continued expansion of outdoor dining and socialization.

“It was not a plan,” says Deborah. When the emergency relief program was launched, she said, residents supported it as they sought to support the struggling hospitality sector. But now they feel that their opinions are being ignored.

City services can't do work

Deborah says rats, crowds, vomit and dirt are depressing. She worries about elderly residents trying to get around the busy sidewalks.

According to her, a fireman cars have to slow down to drive through streets with restaurant awnings. Others expressed similar concerns, and in May New York City Fire Department tweetedthat awnings delayed their arrival at the scene of a fire at a Chinese restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

Residents from Chinatown to Queens, Brooklyn to Greenwich Village are now calling for a reconsideration of outdoor dining.

Some say this is fundamentally changing neighborhoods that were not previously dominated by a noisy nightlife. Whereas elsewhere, this exacerbates existing problems.

As it got colder, the sheds were fenced in with plastic screens, contrary to the original health and safety goal. This robs the dining area of ​​good ventilation. Graffiti began to appear on the outside of the awnings. Some of them are no longer used and are in decline.

“It looks like a slum,” said Diem.

But not everyone thinks so

Jacob Sivak is the chef and owner of Forsythia, an Italian restaurant located across the street from Deborah's house. Criticism of outdoor restaurants infuriates Sivak.

“It's crazy to me that people focus on these little things, which can be a little negative when there are so many positives,” he wonders.

Sivak believes his restaurant has increased the value of the entire block.

“And it allows me to hire more people. I have many employees in the state [to whom] I can pay salaries equal to the cost of living in New York. "

He notes that there are rules as to how far from the road he is allowed to put a canopy. Its width is equal to the width of the parked car. Thus, he believes that fears about the passage of emergency vehicles are "unfounded."

Sivak admits New York has a problem with garbage collection, but says it is not the canopies' fault. And his restaurant doesn't make things worse. “We use ceramic plates, linen napkins, silverware. We do not collect trash, ”he says.

Garbage collection system is broken

Andrew Ridgee, chief executive of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, says the introduction of a permanent outdoor dining scheme could be the catalyst the city needs to tackle a long-standing garbage problem.

Trash is mostly left by New Yorkers by the side of the road in black plastic bags. They are selected by public or private collectors. This system has been disrupted by the pandemic and the awnings.

Rigi agrees that the system needs to be improved. But he believes that this should not interfere with dining outdoors.

The reality is that restaurants and diners are used to eating outdoors. They like it, and there is a need to make it permanent.

But the current temporary program, created at the height of the crisis, is not becoming permanent. Instead, a new set of standards and regulations are being developed to address many of the residents' concerns. Sanitation methods are being developed; noise at night; and what activities are allowed, says Rigi.

Public consultation

The City says that the key principles of the new program will be accessibility, appearance, cleanliness and equity. This will allow all neighborhoods to participate and stabilize restaurants in their neighborhood context. The solution will provide security, including access for ambulances.

The Department of Transportation, which will oversee the ongoing program, and the Planning Department started a consultationin which New Yorkers were asked how they thought these goals could best be achieved.

“The incredible success of outdoor dining shows how we can reimagine the cityscape to better serve our neighborhoods,” says Transportation Commissioner Hank Gutman.

Gutman is willing to consult with the public to "develop the rules." They will improve accessibility, safety and address issues such as noise, opening hours and sanitation.

City residents do not believe in the effectiveness of consultations

But many residents are still deeply skeptical. They say the consultation will not reach many parts of the community, especially those that are not active online. In their opinion, this scheme is poorly followed, so there are fears that the same will happen with the permanent one.

Even if more stringent conditions are agreed and followed, they are suspicious of the forces behind the scheme.

“It's no longer about rebuilding,” says Diem. "Doubling the capacity of restaurants by allowing them free street use means homeowners have been granted one of the largest state land grabs in New York City history."

They can raise rents and, as a result, favor bars and restaurants over other small businesses, further undermining the character of many neighborhoods.