The Open Streets initiative launched in the spring of 2020 to give pandemic-weary residents more space to take in the outdoors.This year’s new Open Streets feature locations across the five boroughs, including in Bushwick & Brownsville, #Brooklyn; South Jamaica, #Queens; & Soundview, #theBronx. More Open Streets are being finalized, with anticipated launches on/after 7/1. Details: https://t.co/Cvz8Quf16F
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) April 22, 2023
Only some people are enamored by the program. Per Gothamist: "Opponents of the program have complained about losing valuable parking spots, and argue that Open Streets inhibit emergency vehicles and hinder residents with limited mobility."
Here are the local Open Streets...
• Avenue B, Sixth Street to 14th Street (limited local access)
Hours: Daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Bleecker Street, Mott to the Bowery (full closure)
Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 5-11 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Partner: Von Design Ltd
• Bond Street, Lafayette to the Bowery (full closure)
Hours: Monday-Friday, 4:30-11 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Partner: il Buco
• Fourth Street, the Bowery to Second Avenue (full closure)
Hours: Thursdays, 4-9 p.m.
Partner: Fourth Arts Block (aka FABnyc)
• Seventh Street, Avenue A to First Avenue (full closure)
Hours: Monday-Friday, 4-11 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon-11 p.m.
Partner: Overthrow Hospitality
Top photo on Avenue B via @loisaida_oscc
I'm sure some curmudgeons will find a way to complain about it, but this has been fantastic. Anything that takes road space away from cars and gives it back to the community is a huge success as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDeleteNo, this is utterly moronic. Stupid rules, arbitrary times all it does is inconvenient people and make things harder for small businesses. It doesn’t benefit anyone. Teaching people walk in the road only sets them up to be a pedestrian casualty in the future.
DeleteIt's time to get rid of street parking and reduce the amount of space allocated to cars on our streets. Make limited hours per day for cars permanently.
ReplyDeletePeople need to check out what’s going on in Midtown especially on Broadway in the 20s and 30s. It looks like they are closing down more street areas for open air seating. Same thing happened on Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. Pretty soon cars will be a thing of the past in Manhattan.
ReplyDeleteWhat should be done with the NYCHA parking lots?
DeleteMake them parks
DeleteUntil we get to the Jetsons, cars will always be here. Deal with it.
ReplyDelete@8:59am: As a "curmudgeon" (according to you), I am otherwise known as a life-long New Yorker who sees all the "I-hate-vehicles" nonsense as exactly the entitled bullshit it is.
ReplyDeleteHow do you think deliveries get made to every store, restaurant, bar & residential building in this city? Not on foot, that's for sure.
As a senior citizen with arthritis, riding a bike is not an option. Getting to my medical appointments by cab IS mission-critical, though.
And, BTW, we "curmudgeons" pay all the same taxes as everyone else in this city. I pay my way, and I always have. I should be entitled to be able to get around to the medical appointments that are necessary to my health without undue interference or obstacles.
For all you "I hate cars" people, I wish you a VERY long life, with really bad arthritis. And I hope you'll be surrounded in YOUR old age by people who marginalize you & talk down to you, and who call you a "curmudgeon" and who trivialize & disregard your needs b/c they think you don't matter.
I'm sorry it's tough for you to get around but wishing illness and pain on others is truly negative and karmically unevolved.
DeleteSome vehicles are necessary for moving people around. Ideally they would all be public and take predictable routes to avoid hitting people. Personal cars are necessary in some cases but ultimately are a failure of public transit.
Delete@11:58: "Pretty soon cars will be a thing of the past in Manhattan."
ReplyDeleteThose street closures and seating areas are going to be really great when an ambulance or fire truck needs to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible.
I have an even better idea: Let's make it so hard for vehicles to get around in Manhattan that everyone has to take their little red wagon to a "distribution point" to pick up anything/everything they want to buy, and haul the wagon home themselves. Get some nice healthy exercise!
I'm all for reducing street traffic, but I will note that I had to pull the barricade out of the way for a speeding fire truck on Ave B last week. If I wasn't there, I'm assuming they would have smashed through it. No way they were going to stop so one of them could get out of the truck and move it.
ReplyDelete@1:06PM - all of those things can and will still happen without the ridiculous amount of area we are currently giving up to street parking.
ReplyDeleteAvenue B has been an Open Street since May 2020. I've seen FDNY Engine 28/Ladder 11 from 2nd St pass by dozens of times since then without incident. It's not a new issue.
ReplyDelete@1:59: This has nothing to do with street parking; street parking is just the red herring, unless you're also going to include all the dining sheds(which are a million times worse than street parking could ever be).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I presume you have no friends or family from out-of-town who ever visit you by *car* ... you surely have disowned all such people by now, no? Horrible, horrible car-driving people who need to park somewhere!
@2:43 - street parking is most definitely not a red herring as it currently steals roughly 2/3s of every street.
ReplyDeleteAnd horrible people? Of course not. But they can find a parking garage - I'm not sure why we should be interested in giving up a huge portion of every block just in case friends and family want to visit.
Not everyone with cars can afford garage parking. There are teachers, nurses and other underpaid public servants who need cars to get to jobs not well serviced by subways. There are handicapped individuals, people who care for aging parents in outer boroughs who need cars for doctors visits and grocery shopping. There are numerous reasons that people have cars, not just those who use them to get to their second homes upstate. The idea that everyone with car use a garage is somewhat elitist.
DeleteThe notion that there's a right for free parking is absurd. That's an extremely low value use of the land and only creates externalities.
DeleteIs ought. The garages should be free instead, like street parking is now. They take up less space and are therefore are better than street parking. See apartments, skyscrapers, etc…
Delete@4:17pm: I don't think you spent a split-second thinking about what it means to find it "very hard to get around" in a city that keeps making it ever harder for older and/or disabled/differently-abled people to get around.
ReplyDeleteLook around you: actually SEE all the people who have a hell of a difficult time on a daily basis, while NYC's actions make our lives worse (b/c apparently older and disabled people are just such a drag on society).
You don't seem to have any idea what it's like to be old. Do you have parents or grandparents? Do you imagine that you yourself won't be old & infirm some day? Older people are just hoping people show them some kindness & extend some consideration.
Maybe you could work on seeing older people as human beings with as many rights (and often with more challenges/needs) as everyone else. It's worth meditating on.
“Lifelong” New Yorkers complaining about cars and street parking lol
ReplyDeletePlease provide lavish coverage of any NYC announcement stating that there's a major city initiative aimed at helping OLDER PEOPLE to be and feel safe on the streets, and to help them get around easily and safely.
ReplyDeleteAll I see are initiatives for children & play streets, initiatives for bike riders and e-bike riders, etc. Streets closed for play, special lanes for bikes.
I see ZERO initiatives for anything to do with older people and the disabled. When will streets be closed so that those people can walk safely?
Here's a disgusting truth about NYC: Even DOG RUNS are prioritized above the needs of older New Yorkers.
A prime example are the bus routes: plazas up and down Broadway have eliminated the convenient bus traveling from the upper westside to the EV- it now requires 2-3 buses to travel diagonally across the island.
DeleteOther routes have been eliminated.
Select buses run every 3-5 minutes but Locals, used mostly by older NYers, those with mobility issues, and people with young children or bulky packages, run every 18 minutes. The local stops have been relocated to the end of the block (adding additional walking) while the shelters and seating only exist for those who are waiting for only 5 minutes.
Most subway stops have no elevators, so travel by bus is essential for many.
If I was old I imagine I would like having a few streets to eat outdoors on idk
DeleteWhen has a dog run done anything to affect you
Delete@9:06pm: I agree with you a million percent, especially about what was done to Broadway, which should never, ever have been tampered with. NYC can't hope to even figure out how much $$$ does NOT get spent b/c of the disaster that chopped-up Broadway now is!
ReplyDeletePeople *used* to be able to get home from Lincoln Center QUICKLY via downtown buses on B'way, but now that's impossible. Not everyone can afford a cab home at night. Solution: Stay home!
Macy's is losing business it can't quantify b/c shoppers used to be able to get the bus right in front of the store, so if you had bulky items, you could (again) get home quickly & cheaply on a downtown bus on B'way, but that's now also impossible.
So much money is *not* being spent in different ways - ways that NYC is not capable of measuring - and therefore the chopping-up of B'way into useless "tourist seating" is considered a success, when in fact it represents an absolutely enormous financial failure!
And everything you said about the Select Buses is true, true, true!
Of course, nobody who's "in charge" in NYC ever routinely depends on a bus to get around, so the bigwigs never realize what a massive fuck-up they've created. They puzzle over loss of ridership, loss of income, massive loss of attendance at Lincoln Center, etc. but nobody in charge can connect the dots.
And THEN, they complain about traffic congestion! Hint: If you go out of your way to decimate B'way as a usable route, and everyone has to go over/around to get where they're going, guess what: you have more congestion.
Do you have any evidence to back up your claims? I’ve only ever seen evidence on the contrary.
DeleteSome can def move to parks and community gardens here
ReplyDeleteBond Street is fully closed daily to accommodate outdoor dining extending into the street for Il Buco and Fish Cheeks restaurant. This is in addition to the existing sheds and sidewalk seating.
ReplyDeleteIt's a cobble stone street so I can not imagine anyone enjoying bike riding on that type of surface. I would rather see it open to have access for emergency vehicles and not high end dining I can not afford.
Same deal with Bleecker street being closed just for Von bars small outdoor seating area. Both are east bound streets closed for private businesses without any input from the community.
Lovely, the more NYC is pedestrianized, the better. Allow limited car access and move all parking to garages. Hopefully self driving cars will mean local parking becomes irrelevant anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think we need more plastic sticks and painted lines and staggered traffic lights. I came to NY to get away from the bad kids who colored outside the lines and crossed before the light changed. Now I feel more at home. We all stand on the curb until the light tells us we can cross, and we all know exactly where and when to walk. With each passing day NY’s more like Switzerland, my favorite country!
ReplyDelete@11:05pm: You think street parking is free? You must never have looked at the rates on the parking meters!
ReplyDeleteIt’s so ridiculous to me that they still do this as a non occasional thing. It’s the frieken street!!! Leave the streets clear. And the people that live next to it can’t stand the noise and crowding. Look at what they did to canal street by ludlow, now it’s like a bar party everyday. Total BS.
ReplyDeleteWe will never all agree. I think the bike lanes & racks was a really bad idea and poorly executed. You gotta be nuts to ride a bicycle in Manhattan traffic. I’m baffled that anyone would find that enjoyable. If you wanna ride a bike, go to the suburbs. And if you are gonna ride a bike in this congested, overpopulated city, play by the rules. Stay off the sidewalks, stop for red lights, and stop thinking you are entitled.
ReplyDelete11:36 makes a really important comment about open streets hurting bus service and access and the implications of bus reduction more generally (eg can't get from the village to/from Lincoln Center or from West Side to/from 14th Street Greenmarket)
ReplyDeleteFirst, DOT has implemented "open streets" on various bus streets throughout NYC, thereby forcing bus detours.
It is unthinkable that the City would hamper mass transit (especially after insisting that Congestion Pricing is needed to "save" mass transit.)
Not only does it really hurt bus riders but it also sabotages bus mass transit.
Surely Carlina Rivera did not intend to screw bus mass transit when she sponsored "open streets" legislation?
Second, it comes as the MTA continues to reduce bus service. Bus service reduction has been happening since about 2010 but accelerated over the past few years - routes cut, frequency cut and bus stops eliminated.
Third, "funny" thing - as bus service gets reduced, there is a parallel increase in bike infrastructure.
A demographic "wow" is the only polite thing to say.
And while the city agencies voice concern about the decrease in ridership on public transportation and traffic congestion, there are 80,000 licensed Uber and Lyft drivers roaming the streets. People thought nothing of hopping on a train or bus to get around but now there are younger residents who never use public transportation and don’t even consider it. And Select buses where you pay before getting on? Who didn’t consider the number of riders that would get on and off without paying? And now the deficit grows…
DeleteI don’t drive.
ReplyDeleteBut along with some others, am helping elderly family friends who have no one to care for them.
Open Streets and other DOT street closures have been a nightmare in terms of getting them to/from medical appointments, occasional family events, and has discouraged other relatives from out of town to drive in to visit.
How is this fair?
To close streets so folks can have brunch?
Detour buses for chalk-art sessions?
And in the meantime the actual parks are mostly in terrible shape. Money that should go to parks is instead going to DOT open streets for the benefit of bicyclists
Beyond belief
I swear it's like children are in charge now, the is nonsense.
ReplyDelete