NYC Mayor De Blasio Has No Plans to Reopen Indoor Dining, and Restaurant Owners Are Not Happy About It

According to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, he does not have plans to reopen indoor dining anytime soon.

“Indoor dining, there’s not a plan right now,” he said on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show.”

“There’s not a context for indoor dining. We’re never saying it’s impossible. But we do not, based on what we’re seeing around the world, we do not have a plan for reopening indoor dining in the near term,” de Blasio said.

Due to this, restaurant owners like Massimo Felici are “banding together to consider filing a class-action lawsuit against the mayor,” Fox Business reported.

“It will devastate us,” said Felici, owner of Staten Island’s Vinum Restaurant and Wine Bar. “We're not going to survive the year, for sure. If that happens, very few of us will be able to survive that. We barely survived March, April and May, and now we're surviving because of the outdoor [dining].”

Above 100 restaurants are now fighting against the mayor and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s orders with possible legal action. Felici said this may be the only option to keep businesses going.

De Blasio also talked about holding the reopening of indoor dining until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.

“That is probably the worst thing a mayor can say,” Felici said.

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