Manhattan is what most people think of when they hear “New York City.” As an island of 23.7 square miles with “an estimated population of 1.63 million people,” it’s “the most densely populated of the five NYC boroughs and also the most densely populated county in the United States. It is more dense than any city in the country and one of the most densely populated areas on earth.” In other words, space on Manhattan is at an absolute premium; every speck of those 23.7 square miles is invaluable.
But thanks to the Black Death—sorry, c-virus, or, more correctly, thanks to politicians’ exploiting this flu, Manhattan’s renowned restaurants have been closed to all but delivery and take-out since mid-March. Not surprisingly, that’s herded these independent, locally owned tax-cows towards insolvency. So New York State’s czar, Andrew “Blood on His Hands” Cuomo, magnanimously permitted the industry to begin dining in, or rather out, on June 22: “restaurants are allowed to open socially-distanced outdoor seating on the sidewalk and in the parking spaces in front of their businesses…” Not my cup of tea, thanks, but if sipping wine and savoring carbonara while traffic roars past a cubit from your plate charms you, why, head to New York City.
Just don’t expect to park your car while you dine. Commercial garages will bankrupt you; savvy natives park on the streets for “free.” These spots have always been in distressingly short supply; it’s nothing to “circle” for 30-45 minutes looking for an empty one. But now such gems are dramatically scarcer as restaurateurs build platforms and erect barriers to separate tables that belong inside from the trucks spewing exhaust as they rumble past.
Meanwhile, dining rooms sit empty—all that space going to waste in a city where the average commercial square foot rents for $83.
Because of a fake plandemic. Staggering, isn’t it?
12:55 pm on July 10, 2020
