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Residents press outdoor dining panel to push DOT for enforcement after repeated noncompliance
Summary
Multiple residents told the working group they have repeatedly reported sidewalk obstructions, speakers, sandwich boards and other violations; several businesses at the meeting face DOT summonses and neighborhood protests.
Neighbors testified repeatedly at the Sept. 9 Outdoor Dining Working Group meeting that a small number of restaurants are repeatedly exceeding their approved footprints, leaving furniture in the furnishing zone, placing sandwich boards in pedestrian paths and installing speakers or other sound equipment outdoors.
"They have not been in compliance since 11/01/2024," resident Augustine said of one operator during public testimony. Cormac Flynn, an Eighth Street resident of more than 60 years, described recurring encroachment onto the curb and sidewalk and said enforcement visits have produced only temporary compliance. "They are not the only place on the block that did it, and they're not the first ones on the block who started to do it," Flynn said, urging the committee to press DOT for sustained action.
Residents cited examples in several locations: Automatic Slims (733 Washington St.), whose application drew multiple public objections and a recorded denial by the committee for documented noncompliance; Citizens of Soho (201 Lafayette St.), which has received multiple DOT summonses and was denied by the committee pending correction of violations; and multiple eateries on Mulberry, Hudson and Bleecker streets where benches or planters have been used as seating and where umbrellas and tables repeatedly obstruct clear pedestrian paths.
The working group recorded multiple technical requests to applicants — correct site plan dimensions, show Siamese connection radial clearances, mark primary building entrances and show exact tree-pit dimensions — and asked staff to forward repeated complaint histories to DOT for follow-up enforcement. The committee also noted two $500 DOT summonses shown on Citizens of Soho’s record in July and August.
Why it matters: Neighborhood residents say inconsistent enforcement leaves pedestrians, people who use wheelchairs, and parents with strollers with reduced usable sidewalk width and raises the risk of accessibility lawsuits and safety incidents. The working group asked CB staff to compile complaint records and to ask DOT for enforcement follow-up; several members urged including enforcement resource requests in the FY27 district needs statement.
Ending: The working group’s business session recorded denials and conditional approvals for several applications; residents asked the CB to forward enforcement documentation to DOT and to include stronger enforcement recommendations in the FY27 needs statement.
