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: news@queenspost.com
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

Queens man sentenced to 7 years in prison for 2021 attempted kidnapping in Richmond Hill: DA

A Fresh Meadows man was sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to kidnap a 5-year-old boy in Richmond Hill in July 2021, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday.

James McGonagle, 27, of Parsons Boulevard, pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court in November to attempted kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child for grabbing the child off a sidewalk before his mother and siblings thwarted the abduction.

Lawmakers secure federal funding to combat flooding in Queens after impact of Hurricane Ida and other storms

U.S. Congresswomen Grace Meng and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, announced on Jan. 7 that President Joe Biden has signed their legislation into law to address severe flooding in Queens.

The measure aims to mitigate future disasters like those caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in September 2021, which inundated the borough with record-shattering rainfall.

Op-ed | New York’s ground lease co-ops: Our families can’t wait any longer 

Jan. 14, 2025 By Michael Tang 

Last December brought a long-awaited victory for New York City. Our City Council adopted the historic City of Yes housing plan, paving the way for more than 80,000 new homes by 2040 with the promise of affordability. As a longtime resident of Flushing, Queens, I naturally welcomed the news – it’s a much-needed reprieve for New Yorkers as housing costs continue to soar in the midst of an unparalleled housing crisis. But entering 2025 on the heels of this win, we residents at  Murray Hill Cooperative remain at risk — our lives are virtually unchanged because we belong to the last class of unprotected “tenants” as ground lease co-op residents. Without legislative action, more than 25,000 New Yorkers face the threat of losing their homes — homes that we own — to landowners seeking to raise our ground rent to astronomical rates.