Experts Pitch 40-Plus Hot Ideas For NYC Outdoor Winter Dining
NEW YORK CITY — Rows of large, winterized tents shared by multiple restaurants on a block. Cubes made of scaffolding materials and plastic that trap heat. Creative lighting fighting back the dark along commercial corridors.
A bevy of business and design experts offered these ideas, and more, for helping keep New York City restaurants open through the winter and amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The study — “Surviving the Winter: Helping NYC’s Small Businesses in the Months Ahead” — by the Center For An Urban Future offers more than 40 ideas from roughly two dozen experts.
Opening sidewalks and streets for outdoor dining provided a “lifeline” for eateries previously shuttered by coronavirus restrictions, the study states.
“But with only a few weeks left of mild weather, it’s time for city and state policymakers to step in with a new set of creative solutions—policies and initiatives that give New York’s restaurants, shops and nightlife venues a crucial boost through the many cold months ahead,” it states.
So what are the ideas?
Let’s start with the very first offered by Vishaan Chakrabarti, former Manhattan director for the city’s Department of City Planning. He proposed for the city to help businesses use sidewalk scaffolding materials to quickly erect “cube-like structures.”
“The structure provided by rapid-assembly, scaffolding-style tent enclosures could be built out with a plastic membrane overhead cover and side covers that roll down on at least three sides, trapping the heat within the dining area,” he wrote.
Heating open-air outdoor spaces was a frequent issue the experts tried to tackle.
Donald Clinton, a partner with Cooper Robertson, proposed large winterized structures shared by multiple restaurants. Some could be more open air with portable electric heaters, while other full-enclosure structures could have forced-air heat and ventilation to provide “COVID-safe filtered air,” he wrote.
Other ideas suggested simple changes to rules, like allowing a greater variety of heating options.
The full report can be read here.
This article originally appeared on the New York City Patch
