I have to disagree somewhat with my libertarian friends at Reason who argue in the piece below that New York City is stifling a “creative, organic” outgrowth of the food-and-drinks business by shutting down the pandemic-era street sheds. I do so for the same reasons I have veered away from a number of laissez-faire positions: Just too many impolite or arrogant people abuse the public unless held in check. In this case, the offense was a form of squatting: Restaurants and bars were given “emergency” leeway, after Covid had largely emptied many streets, to expand outward in what was 1) initially considered a safer dining space and 2) soon became additional floor space to recoup lost business from the lockdown days. Then guess what? They never wanted to leave the sidewalk or curb areas, even as most of New York returned to full throttle. However, there were complaints of rats and late noise, plus the obstruction. In the winters, some spots had few outdoor customers but it was a hassle to dismantle and reassemble the structures so for months they just collected dirt, debris and the occasional substance abuser. After a long political stall, the city finally made the sheds come down last month, to be replaced next spring only in approved areas and formats (with fees, of course). Reason’s authors are right that the bureaucracy will limit their comeback, and stretches of the city will be lessened. But that’s the thing with people who make their private pleasures or profit a matter of the commons: Some add to others’ enjoyment and some detract, and we only have one rule book to enforce decorum. Most displays or displacements are tolerable for awhile–live and let live–but then you have the chronic or obnoxious cheat. This is why we cannot enjoy the sweet liberty of natural order in many walks of modern life, especially when people are crowded together. Too many of them don’t behave decently anymore, if they ever did. My older but still libertarian self has less time for that.
https://reason.com/2024/12/14/the-death-and-life-of-new-york-outdoor-dining/
Tim W. Ferguson 