THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Monday, November 16, 2020 |A7B
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ALBANY
Son, 27, Is Charged
With Killing Mother
A 27-year-old man was ar-
rested Sunday on charges of
stabbing his mother to death in
Albany, police said.
Officers responding to a 911
call at 11:45 p.m. Saturday found
53-year-old Denise Castanon in-
side a house with multiple stab
wounds to her torso, the Albany
Police Department said. Her son,
Kristopher Castanon, was ar-
rested a short distance away, po-
lice said. He was awaiting arraign-
ment on a murder charge. It
wasn’t clear if he had an attorney.
—Associated Press
MANHATTAN
Suspect Arrested
In Assault on Actor
A New York man was ar-
rested in connection with an un-
provoked assault against Rick
Moranis that occurred as the 67-
year-old actor was walking near
Central Park in October.
New York City police said 35-
year-old Marquis Ventura, whom
authorities listed as homeless,
was arrested Saturday. It wasn’t
known if he had an attorney.
Mr. Moranis, known for roles
including in the movies “Ghost-
busters” and “Honey I Shrunk
the Kids,” was attacked Oct. 1.
—Associated Press
ROCKEFELLER CENTER
Christmas Tree Gets
Set for Decorating
A 75-foot Norway spruce ar-
rived at New York City’s Rocke-
feller Center to serve as one of
the world’s most famous Christ-
mas trees.
The tree was trucked in Sat-
urday morning. It will be deco-
rated over the coming weeks,
and its more than 5 miles of
lights will be illuminated on Dec.
2, according to NBC, which is
broadcasting the event. No in-
person spectators will be al-
lowed this year. The tree was
donated by Al Dick of Daddy Al’s
General Store in Oneonta, N.Y.
—Associated Press
been struck by a vibe that
never previously existed in the
neighborhood. “It is very Pari-
sian,” she said.
If anything, urban-planning
experts say such sentiments
are proof that the city should
have promoted outdoor dining
long ago as a tool to create a
more vibrant New York. They
note that when people take to
the streets to dine, the streets
become safer and other busi-
nesses benefit from the in-
creased pedestrian presence.
“It’s allowed people to en-
joy the city again in a whole
new way,” said Jonathan
Bowles, executive director of
Center for an Urban Future, a
New York-based think tank de-
voted to planning and eco-
nomic issues.
Which isn’t to say that out-
door dining hasn’t posed chal-
lenges. Some New Yorkers
have complained that the
Open Restaurants program has
created noise problems and
impeded the flow of pedes-trian traffic. Business owners
and civic organizations have
also been concerned about
how the setups have limited
street parking.
The latter point is on the
mind of Peter Madonia, chair-
man of the Belmont Business
Improvement District, the
group that promotes the Bronx
neighborhood that includes
the Arthur Avenue corridor of
shops and restaurants. As
much as Mr. Madonia says
that outdoor dining has been a
boon for the neighborhood,
especially on the weekends, he
is mindful that it has taken
away 50 parking spaces.
“That’s a lot of cars that
can’t get here,” Mr. Madonia
said, noting that the Arthur
Avenue corridor is highly de-
pendent on visitors from out-
side the neighborhood who
drive there rather than use
public transportation.
Others point to the problem
of aesthetics, noting that the
outdoor setups often are visu-ally drab affairs that can de-
tract from a neighborhood’s
character.
They “look to me like they
floated onto our streets as de-
bris left behind after a flood,”
said Kathryn B. Quinn, a West
Village resident who is part of
the leadership of the West Vil-
lage Residents Association.
The neighborhood group has
reached out to city officials in
recent months to express a va-
riety of concerns about the
Open Restaurants program.
City officials express faith
in the program, however, and
note that while it has been
made permanent, it can still
be modified over time.
“I think doing this as a
long-term feature means you
can start figuring out how to
address those issues,” said
City Councilman Keith Powers,
a Democrat who represents
parts of Manhattan.
Meanwhile, the program
proved to be a revenue gener-
ator for restaurants all theway through to the sunny days
earlier this month, notwith-
standing that most restaura-
teurs say outdoor revenue
can’t fully offset the loss of in-
door business, with capacity
for inside space still capped at
25% in the city.
At the same time, Linden
Pride, one of the owners of
Dante, an award-winning
Greenwich Village craft cock-
tail bar and restaurant that
opened a second location in
the West Village this year,
says he isn’t sure his new spot
would have made it without
outdoor dining. Fortunately,
the West Village Dante has
been a success, with waits of
up to two hours on busy
nights, he says.
Mr. Pride recognizes that
neighbors may have some
complaints but says the city is
better off as a whole with a
robust outdoor-dining scene.
“Would you rather have
dark, empty streets with no
life?” he said.@onemadisonavenue
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GREATER NEW YORK
During the stretch of unsea-
sonably warm days earlier this
month, many New Yorkers
used the occasion to sit at one
of their favorite restaurants
and enjoy a final al fresco
meal—at least without the
need for extra layers of cloth-
ing or any outdoor heating
provided by the establishment.
It was, by all accounts, a re-
minder of how popular the
city’s Open Restaurants pro-
gram has become since it was
launched in June as a lifeline
to an industry that has strug-
gled during the coronavirus
pandemic.
The program let dining
spots spill onto streets and
roadways with a relatively
easy approval process from
the city. A separate program,
Open Streets: Restaurants, al-
lowed for select streets to be
closed to traffic to provide an
additional sales boost for eat-
eries.
The effect, however, has
gone beyond just helping out
restaurants, many New York-
ers say. The Open Restaurants
program, which has become
permanent with a measure ap-
proved last month by the City
Council, has transformed busi-
ness corridors, if not entire
neighborhoods, throughout
the city, lending them a vital-
ity often associated with Euro-
pean metropolises.
And that includes not only
well-established, pedestrian-
friendly locales for dining and
commerce, from the West Vil-
lage or Koreatown in Manhat-
tan to the Italian-centric Ar-
thur Avenue in the Bronx, but
also the city’s outlying neigh-
borhoods, which are generally
more car-dependent.
“It has brought out a lot of
people,” said Robert Silver, a
longtime community activist
in the Forest Hills and Rego
Park neighborhoods of Queens.
Both have seen their share of
restaurants offering outdoor
dining.
Marla Cornejo, co-owner of
5 Burro Cafe, a Mexican res-
taurant in Forest Hills with an
outdoor setup, says she hasBYCHARLESPASSYStreet Dining Livens Up City Scene
Sidewalk seating at Cowgirl NYC in the West Village last week. ‘It is very Parisian,’ says a Queens restaurateur of the street scene vibe.KEVIN HAGEN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNALNY