#De Blasio, council aim to kick restaurants while they’re down

With restaurants dying by the dozens and the rest on life support, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council are moving to expand the number of food-cart permits in the city. Adding insult to injury, the progressive pols are doing it in the middle of Restaurant Week.

“Are they going to give up some of their salaries and benefits to support the families — black, Latino, women — they are putting out of work?” said Hank Sheinkopf, spokesman for the NYS Latino Restaurant, Bar & Lounge Association. It doesn’t help that most of the new permits would be for the outer boroughs, whose eateries are hurting even more than Manhattan’s.

Fine, the 4,000 new sidewalk and food-cart licenses would be issued in batches over 10 years starting in 2022. But that almost doubles the current cap.

De Blasio vows brick-and-mortar businesses won’t suffer, but that’s even more meaningless than his usual promises since a new mayor takes over before the expansion starts.

Eatery owners — already suffering from Gov. Cuomo’s ban on indoor dining — are furious, since cart vendors don’t have the same overhead costs (rent, salaries, utilities, taxes, etc.). Andrew Rigie of the New York Hospitality Alliance notes the bill “doesn’t extend the distance requirements from which vendors can sell in front of brick-and-mortar restaurants and doesn’t fund enforcement.”

As it is, illegal vendors are growing unchecked; the expansion will only make it easier. And a city facing a ginormous budget crisis is unlikely to make good on plans to boost enforcement. Critics say the council is just picking winners and losers.

Chinatown Councilwoman Margaret Chin actually dares to claim “restaurants have benefited from outdoor dining and some COVID-19 financial aid while vendors have received nothing.” Is she kidding? Anyway, this doesn’t help existing carts.

Council Speaker Corey Johnson should pull this bill from Thursday’s calendar. At the very least, put it off until the pandemic is over. Don’t cut the struggling hospitality industry off at the knees.