Is New York's 'War On Brunch' Coming To An End?

In the history of inane restaurant-related laws in New York City (and believe us, there are plenty of them), there's one that might take the cake: restaurants are outlawed from seating guests at sidewalk seating areas before noon on Sundays, and the city has recently been cracking down on restaurant owners who break this obscure law.

But one city councilman is co-sponsoring a bill that could nix this law once and for all, The Brooklyn Paper is reporting. Steve Levin is on a mission to repeal this law, which has been on the books since the 1970s but didn't really register in people's heads until last year, when Community Board member Tom Burrows pressured the city to begin enforcing it. Apparently, he believed that alfresco diners were preventing churchgoers from getting to church, which might have been the original reason for the law in the first place.

Levin's convinced that overturning this law is "totally common sense," though, and just about everyone except for Burrows seems to agree with him, even church leaders. "Brunching does not stop churching," pastor Ann Kansfield of the Greenpoint Reformed Church told the paper.

The measure is set to be voted upon June 13. Maybe after that they'll try to overturn the law that's still preventing restaurants from selling alcohol before noon on Sundays.