You are reading

De Blasio’s ‘Open Streets’ Stalled at Fraction of Promised Hundred Miles

Pedestrians and cyclists take advantage of a closed-off section of Berry Street in Williamsburg as part of the city’s Open Streets program, Oct. 8, 2021. Hiram Alejandro Durán/THE CITY

This article was originally publishedLogo for THE CITY
by The CITY on Oct. 12 
BY 

Fewer than half of the Open Streets touted by Mayor Bill de Blasio and his Department of Transportation are off limits to motor vehicles as advertised, a new survey finds.

The review from the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives also revealed extreme disparities between boroughs when it comes to the 24 miles of current Open Streets, with just half a mile in The Bronx versus eight miles in Manhattan.

De Blasio had pledged 100 miles of Open Streets early in the pandemic to help with social distancing and safe recreation close to home, after Transportation Alternatives and the City Council both pressed the idea.

This year, the mayor promised more miles, vowing in his January State of the City address that “equity and inclusion will be at the heart of the Open Streets expansion.”

Nine months later, the mayor hasn’t fulfilled his promise, according to the report, which noted: “Just one in five New Yorkers live within walking distance of an active Open Street.”

The report was based on data collected over the summer by hundreds of volunteers who surveyed all Open Streets locations citywide.

They found that of all 274 Open Streets locations listed on the city’s Department of Transportation website, only 46% are active.

In The Bronx, the volunteers discovered, 84% of the advertised Open Streets were “non-operational,” as were 69% in Queens and 60% in Brooklyn. On Staten Island, 44% of listed Open Streets were non-operational, while the figure for Manhattan was 34%.

THE CITY reported in April that businesses on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park were struggling to raise funds to staff barricades and ensure the roadway remained off-limits to cars — and safe for pedestrians, cyclists and restaurant diners.

Volunteer Effort

In May, de Blasio signed a Council bill making the Open Streets program permanent. The measure requires the city Department of Transportation to manage or sponsor at least 20 stretches of street.

A DOT representative said steps are being taken to make the program sustainable for the long haul.

“Neighborhoods that applied to the program are already being supported with resources to make their beloved Open Streets permanent,” said Seth Stein, a DOT spokesperson. “Equity and fairness have been central to this program from the start, and we are doing outreach to neighborhoods that lack community groups or [business improvement districts] so they get the support necessary to take part in the program no matter what.”

“We look forward to reviewing this report and any recommendations to make this already successful program even better,” Stein added.

Meanwhile, volunteers make do.

Sophie Maerowitz runs the Open Streets program on Avenue B in the East Village and said she’s grateful for a DOT staffer who “really championed the activities and programming on the Open Streets.”

While city workers currently set up the barricades each morning, her group of volunteers is on its own at the end of the day.

Seven days per week, her crew puts away “the barricades at night, which is also something the city said that they would take care of,” she said.

She said cars regularly pass through her Open Streets regardless.

“We really can’t keep cars off of our open street unless we have a permanent closure,” she said, something bureaucratic rules make costly and hard for grassroots groups to do.

‘Save Money and Save Lives’

Lonnie Hardy ran the Open Street on Jennings Street in the South Bronx from this summer until Oct. 1. Her group of volunteers received city funding for the July 6 through Aug. 13 session, which paid for volunteers, youth workers, a unicycle team, jazz musicians, a hip-hop juggler, supplies for making tie-dye shirts and slime, and more.

“Those are things that we would not have normally been able to do,” she said.

Hardy kept running the Open Streets program until officially ending on Oct.1. “There’s a definite need to have a place for the children to come to, so they’re not just running around,” she said.

A local school yard with weeds growing on the basketball court doesn’t open to the public until evening, she noted, and is a known trouble spot.

Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY Part of Trinity Avenue in The Bronx had been blocked off to vehicle traffic, but only through Oct. 1.

“There was a shooting a few months ago into this playground, so the children really feel uncomfortable going in there,” she said.

When asked by THE CITY about the importance of sustaining Open Streets for children in her community, Hardy paused before acknowledging her eyes were getting teary.

“These children just need something to do,” she said, as she recalled reading about funding for youth incarceration taking priority over recreation.

“We can actually save money and save lives by providing something for the children, as well as the adults, to have something to do that is positive,” she said.

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.

email the author: [email protected]
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Longtime Queens jurist named chief administrative judge of New York State Unified Court System

Judge Joseph A. Zayas, who spent most of his judicial career presiding over Queens’ courtrooms, was officially installed as chief administrative judge of the New York State Unified Court System, the highest-ranking administrative position in the state judiciary.

Judge Zayas was appointed by Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson and approved by the Administrative Board of the Courts to succeed Judge Tamiko Amaker, who served as the court system’s acting chief administrative judge since December 2022.

“Judge Zayas has a stellar reputation for his keen judgment, hard work, integrity and deep knowledge of both the law and the complex workings of the New York State court system,” said Chief Judge Rowan. “He has demonstrated exceptional leadership and the highest ethical standards over the course of his distinguished judicial career. He is a forward-thinking, hands-on manager as proven throughout his tenure as administrative judge for criminal matters in Queens County, where he implemented numerous reforms and programs to improve the delivery of justice.”

The chief administrative judge supervises the daily administration and operation of the Unified Court System, which has a budget of $3.3. billion, with 3,600 state and locally paid judges and nearly 15,000 non-judicial employees in over 300 courthouses spanning 62 counties.

Queens Symphony Orchestra performs at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach

Councilwoman Joann Ariola brought the Queens Symphony Orchestra to Russo’s on the Bay on May 22 for the Night at the Opera – a free concert event that drew more than 200 people to the Howard Beach events hall located at 162-45 Cross Bay Blvd.

“It was truly an honor to continue funding such a wonderful program, and to bring this great music to so many people,” Ariola said. “We were able to bring so many people together for a free night of music – that’s what this is all about, letting taxpayer dollars work for the taxpayer, and providing programs like this that give our residents a nice night out to just unwind and enjoy themselves.”

Advocates pen letter blasting Mayor Adams’ legal motion to suspend right-to-shelter

Homeless advocates penned a letter to a Manhattan Supreme Court judge opposing Mayor Eric Adams’ recent legal motion calling for the suspension of the city’s decades-old right-to-shelter law amid the ongoing migrant influx.

The letter, sent last Thursday and released Tuesday, comes in response to Adams last week filing a court motion to exempt the city from its legal mandate — established by the 1984 Callahan v. Carey consent decree — to provide shelter to single adults and adult couples when it “lacks the resources and capacity” to do so. The mayor and top administration officials say they’re not seeking to abolish the right-to-shelter, but rather “clarity” from the court that would give them more “flexibility” in finding suitable housing for tens of thousands of migrants.

Rockaway’s piping plovers among endangered species commemorated on U.S. Postal Service stamps

A day before the city reopened nearly 70 blocks of public beaches along the Rockaway peninsula for the Memorial Day weekend, the U.S. Postal Service and National Park Service hosted a special event at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Broad Channel to honor the piping plover, an endangered shorebird featured on new stamps.

In attendance were members of the NYC Plover Project, a nonprofit with more than 250 volunteers, who have been on the beaches since March preparing for the summer swim season, who celebrated the newly released stamp sheet commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

Bayside High School hosts annual Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair

Bayside High School hosted its annual Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair Friday. Students from the Career and Technical Education Humanities and Nonprofit Management program each pitched their socially responsible products to students, staff and others in attendance.

Each of the 11th grade students in the program have been taking a college credit course from Farmingdale State College called Social Entrepreneur. The students were divided into 17 groups of five and tasked with coming up with innovative ideas to create businesses while also being socially responsible. The Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair grants them with the opportunity to work on pitching their products to potential customers.