Oyster Bay & Huntington Restaurants Open for Business

by Chris O’Neill

At a press conference in front of Craft 387 Bistro, Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino announced that permit fees associated with outdoor dining would be waived through 2021 to encourage more business.

“The waived fees will allow restaurant owners to recover their investment spent on outdoor dining necessities like tents and heaters,” said Saladino.

Oyster Bay Councilman Lou Imbroto added that “It is time to let the restaurant industry get back to work. They have proven they can do what's necessary to maintain safety protocols and keep customers and employees safe.”

Indeed, NYS government statistics show that only about 1.4 % of statewide cases of Covid-19 come from bars and restaurants.

Nevertheless these businesses were locked down by Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-Westchester) resulting in one in six restaurants nationwide going out of business, including 8,300 in NYS - according to the NYS Restaurant Association.

As of last October, 54% percent of the state's restaurants (37% nationwide) said they would likely not survive the next six months without federal relief.

Craft 387 owner John Kiggins said that he just opened six months prior to the start of the pandemic and he has been "bobbing and weaving like everyone else."

The option of expanding dining to the outdoors has helped, he explained, since customers are becoming more comfortable dining outside.

Huntington Deputy Supervisor Ed Smyth announced a similar program for the Town of Huntington, adding that it is critically important to keep Huntington's restaurants alive and “re-open our great downtown.”

For more information on Huntington’s expanding options for street dining see:https://huntingtonny.gov/reopening#parklet