STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Year-round outdoor dining could return to New York City under legislation introduced late last month to overhaul a program critics say is too costly, complicated and disproportionately beneficial to some neighborhoods.

City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, of Brooklyn, introduced two bills to reform Dining Out NYC, which replaced the pandemic-era initiative. Restler represents Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Boerum Hill — neighborhoods where street dining became widespread during COVID-19. The City Council’s Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Consumer and Worker Protection held a joint hearing just before Thanksgiving to consider the proposed changes.

Open Plans, a nonprofit urban planning organization, testified in support of the legislation. Jackso

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