Shacks! Rats! Regulations! New York City’s outdoor dining scene has been on a wild ride

CNN
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It was never meant to last: When the pandemic hit, New York City’s political leaders rushed to save restaurants, granting an outdoor-dining lifeline via an executive order.

New Yorkers watched as restaurants, previously contained indoors, spilled onto city sidewalks and streets (read: parking spaces). With few restrictions, restaurant owners erected dining sheds for their patrons — adding everything from heat lamps to air conditioners to garlands of flowers, twinkling lights, and roofing — and for the most part, kept their heated igloos and sheds and tables as a year-round offering for the next four years.

At the height of the pandemic, there were…