Soup, not gazpacho

With temperatures dipping and COVID cases rising (though still low), winter is coming for New York’s restaurants and bars. But there’s a glowing lifeline in the form of propane heaters that, when properly regulated, can safely keep their expanded new outdoor spaces toasty for far more patrons deep into the colder months.

If only they could fire them up. Mayor de Blasio, who was pro-propane last winter, reversed himself last month and reinstated the pre-pandemic ban, helping stick a fork in the cold-weather promise of an outdoor dining program he himself launched. Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who takes charge on Jan. 1 — meaning he’ll be in charge for 78 of 88 winter days — is urging de Blasio to scrap the prohibition. Adams should be heeded immediately to prevent the bureaucratic silliness of a restriction in place for a couple of months having to be turned back in the new year.

Propane heat is relatively inexpensive, potent and practical. When thousands of restaurants used it last year, there were no fires. That’s consistent with the experience in many American cities that never banned it in the first place — including Chicago, where it’s colder and where the legacy of a devastating fire 150 years ago still smolders. The FDNY insists there’s a “high risk of death and injury” — but, given that the city already allows indoor space heaters and indoor gas cooking, it’s hard to take seriously that definition of “high.”

De Blasio’s response to restaurants’ desperation is to dole out $5,000 grants for those with less than $1 million in revenue in 2019 to install electric and natural gas. That’s small potatoes, and it fails to understand that electric heaters underperform and overload power outlets, creating their own risks, while too few restaurants have the wherewithal or landlord support to switch over to natural gas.

The city needs its restaurants, not only to employ more than 300,000 people, but to serve hungry residents, workers and tourists. Let them burn propane.