The New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn has been praised for highlighting the importance of outdoor dining and suggesting reforms to ensure its long-term success. These reforms should include restoring the clear-path standard for sidewalk cafes, which has reduced seating, revenue, jobs and worker pay. The city should also make the Dining Out NYC program easier to access by reducing fees, allowing paper applications and adding a “save your work” feature to the online portal, streamlining Community Board review, permitting high-quality sidewalk café enclosures in cooler months to support year-round revenue and jobs. Readers also comment on Robert Mueller's death and the destruction of natural gas and oil fields in the Middle East under the Trump administration.