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Privatizing The Sidewalk

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by Felix Salmon
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Nov 07 2007 12:00am EDT

Privatizing the Sidewalk

Matt Cooper says that he is "not a privatize-the-sidewalks kind of guy". Why not? It seems to be working pretty well in New York:

A 150-square-foot sidewalk berth anywhere between 96th Street and Canal Street costs $4,749.29 annually, about $31 a square foot. (Owners also pay a $510 fee for the two-year license.)
These consent fees, which are the city’s going rate for private businesses to lease public real estate, were doubled or tripled in 2003, when the regulations changed. The fees have created a significant revenue stream for the city; it has taken in $10.7 million in cafe fees this year, according to Jonathan Mintz, the consumer affairs commissioner...
If a restaurant pays $150 a square foot annually for a 2,500-square-foot space along, say, Hudson Street in the West Village, the rent would total $375,000 a year.

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