A new lawsuit could end New York City's popular outdoor dining program.
The suit, which names New York City and New York State as defendants, was filed last week by around three dozen city residents in New York Supreme Court. The plaintiffs allege the city's continued operation of the Temporary Open Restaurant (TOR) program, which gave city restaurants a lifeline during the Covid pandemic by allowing them to create outdoor dining structures along the respective city streets and sidewalks where they operate, constitutes an "illegal encroachment upon [the city's] public sidewalks, streets[,] and roadways on the no longer viable ground of a 'public health emergency.'"
