Open Storefronts

The NYC Hospitality Alliance successfully advocated to amend a law so restaurants are allowed to keep their doors and windows open when the air conditioning is turned on without being fined by the City. As you may recall, The Alliance sprang into action when the City passed a law prohibiting restaurants without sidewalk cafes from keeping their French doors and windows open. This was a big problem for many restaurants because these open-air features were built to provide a seminal fresco dining experience for guests, which resulted in much needed revenue for the business and created new good paying jobs. The open-air features are part and parcel for many restaurants and are not an incidental feature as they are to other big box stores that may blow cool air onto the streets to attract customers inside on hot summer days, which the law sought to prohibit for environmental reasons.

The NYC Hospitality Alliance is proud that this regulatory reform we suggested and helped pass became law, because if it did not, it would have resulted in a significant loss of revenue to restaurants and restaurant workers. The NYC Hospitality Alliance takes issues related to climate change very seriously, so now that this law has taken effect, we urge restaurants that take advantage of this exemption to the closed doors and windows law, to use their air conditioning responsibly.