Compromise in Sidewalk Cafe Dispute
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The saga that pitted makeup mogul Ronald Perelman against the owner of a restaurant near his Upper East Side home ended in compromise yesterday.
The City Council approved a measure to allow Le Bilboquet to add sidewalk seating, but it requires the establishment at 25 E. 63rd St. to stop serving outside by 7 p.m.
The compromise, said to have been struck in a private meeting between Mr. Perelman, chairman of Revlon, and the restaurateur, Philippe Delgrange, puts to rest a controversy that flared up two weeks ago and led to an opera bouffe atmosphere.
Just before a council committee was expected to approve the sidewalk seating without restrictions last week, Eva Moskowitz, who represents the neighborhood, asked the committee to postpone the vote and hear more evidence. Mr. Delgrange’s lawyer, Richard Golub, said Ms. Moskowitz was kowtowing to Mr. Perelman, a charge she denied.
Ms. Moskowitz said she was deferring to Community Board 8, which, after some wrangling, came out against the outdoor seating. But the controversy dogged her. On Tuesday, responding to a letter Ms. Moskowitz, chairwoman of the council’s Committee on Education, handed him about the city’s contract negotiations with the teachers union, Mayor Bloomberg said: “I guess I’m happy to see that the council member has gone back to grandstanding on education rather than doing political favors for Upper East Side residents about sidewalk cafes.”
Both Mr. Golub and Shelly Friedman, Mr. Perelman’s lawyer, expressed satisfaction yesterday with the new arrangement, which allows for four tables and 16 chairs, rather than the four tables and eight chairs that the restaurant initially wanted. Those would have been outside through the evening.
The chairwoman of the council’s land-use committee, Melinda Katz of Queens, said she was satisfied with the outcome. She also defended Ms. Moskowitz and said it was routine for a committee to comply with a council member’s request to postpone a vote.
Another council member on the committee, Michael McMahon of Staten Island, said he was glad the issue was resolved but dismayed by the posturing on both sides.
