Dining shed

The sheds are credited with saving numerous restaurants from closure, but were controversial due to noise pollution, abandonment, attracting crime, and taking up usable parking space, and much debate arose over whether to keep them after the pandemic had waned.

Fees, which typically cost at least $2,579.62 a year for any café taking up 70 square feet or less, were reduced to nothing, and restaurants were allowed to set up on the street for the first time.

[1] Oversight over the program was assigned to the Department of Transportation, which set up "purposely lax" regulations and a self-certification system in the hopes that it would be as easy as possible for restaurants to use.

Most were built from wood, which, in addition to the George Floyd protests and ensuing rioting, caused a run on local branches of The Home Depot and Lowe's for lumber.

[5] On August 6, 2022, the New York Post ran an exposé accusing the sheds of being hotbeds of public sex, including the one run by restaurant Silver Apricot,[6] and urging mayor Eric Adams to tear them down.