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Outdoor dining in Albany to continue beyond pandemic

Owusu Anane
WAMC photo by Dave Lucas
Albany Common Councilor Owusu Anane.

The Albany Common Council has passed legislation making outdoor dining permanent in the city.

Albany's outdoor dining scene is officially here to stay. Introduced in 2020 at the outset of the pandemic to help struggling bars and restaurants, Albany's Extended Patio & Outdoor Café program proved to be a popular notion that continued in 2021.

This week, common councilors led by bill sponsor Owusu Anane made it permanent.

"Why do we have to go back to the way things where when out of a crisis we create a new way for people to support local restaurants and people still like this way of doing things," said Anane.

The vote was unanimous.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.