Mayor-elect Eric Adams and a leading City Council speaker candidate have joined forces to demand that Mayor de Blasio scrap a ban on propane heaters for outdoor restaurant service this winter, charging that the city’s hospitality industry needs “all tools available” to recover from the pandemic.
Restaurant and bars were allowed to use propane heaters last winter under an emergency permit issued by de Blasio, but that order lapsed, and the mayor said last month he wouldn’t renew it, citing safety concerns.
Adams and Councilman Keith Powers, a Democrat representing Manhattan’s Upper East Side, told de Blasio in a letter this week that he’s making the wrong call.
The FDNY reported no injuries or fires caused by propane at eateries last year, and a “majority of restaurants operated the heaters safely and in compliance with the regulations,” Adams and Powers wrote in their Monday letter, which was obtained by the Daily News.
“Many diners still prefer the safety of outdoor dining to dining indoors, and restaurants are still struggling financially to recover,” the pair noted.
“For these reasons, we ask you to reconsider your decision to reinstate the ban,” they told de Blasio.
De Blasio drew heated criticism from restaurant owners when he announced last month that he wouldn’t renew the propane permit.
In justifying the decision, de Blasio said experts at FDNY had told him that letting restaurants keep using propane could be a ticking time bomb, since the tanks holding the gas could cause devastating damage if they explode.
In place of the permit, de Blasio said his administration will issue $5,000 grants for installing electric and natural gas heaters at restaurants whose revenues were less than $1 million in 2019.
While Adams and Powers welcomed the grant program, they said that it’s not enough.
“We need all tools available as we continue to fight back from the economic hardships created by COVID-19,” they wrote.
De Blasio spokesman Mitch Schwartz said the mayor is not reconsidering the ban.
“We’re grateful for their advocacy, and we couldn’t agree more: outdoor dining has made our city more vibrant and helped restaurants through existential challenges,” he said. “But making this program permanent means making it safe in the long term. The city will give restaurants all the tools they need to make a smooth transition away from propane and protect staff and diners.”
Adams, who will be sworn in as de Blasio’s successor on Jan. 1, could likely issue a new propane permit once he’s in City Hall.
But the fact that he’s already pouncing on the issue with Powers appears significant.
Powers is among a crowded field of candidates vying to become the next Council speaker, one of the top posts in municipal government that serves as a check on the mayor’s legislative agenda.
Adams has vowed not to put his thumb on the scale in the speaker election, which will be conducted internally by the Council’s 51 members early next year.
But Adams has privately shown interest in the speaker’s race, meeting with several of the candidates in recent weeks, including Powers.
