MAYOR DE BLASIO ADDS MORE OUTDOOR DINING AND PLAY STREET LOCATIONS TO NATION-LEADING OPEN STREETS PROGRAM

 

Expanding initiatives provide street space for restaurants and recreation along select corridors and in pedestrian plazas

  Mayor de Blasio today announced 21 more locations for outdoor dining options as part of a City initiative that combines the Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs, while adding more seating in more outer-borough pedestrian plazas. The Administration is also adding four more locations in three boroughs for Play Streets, an initiative the City launched in July to provide children with safe, structured activities on Open Streets during summer weekdays. 

 Today’s announcement brings restaurant seating options to 16 more car-free streets on weekends for select corridors, with most of the new locations starting the evening of Friday, August 15th. New plaza locations with exclusive seating, collective dining, and open public seating include Westchester Square in the Bronx and Hillel Plaza in Brooklyn, along with Corona Plaza, Diversity Plaza, and the 71st Avenue Plaza in Queens. Last month the Mayor announced that the City would extend in-street dining through October instead of ending it by Labor Day, giving more than 9,500 participating restaurants two extra months to serve diners in safe, socially distant outdoor spaces. 

 

"Rebuilding a fairer and better city means using our urban landscape creatively, and I'm proud to build on the success of our Open Streets program," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "New Yorkers have sacrificed so much during this crisis and they deserve the opportunity to safely enjoy their neighborhoods and communities."

 

"Communities from across New York City are seeing the benefits Open Restaurants has upon its businesses and the joy it brings to residents, which is why we are continuing to see more and more streets open up to outdoor dining," said Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin. "By continuing to give restaurants innovative ways to serve their customers, we are not only helping to save these jobs and businesses but also providing New Yorkers a small sense of normalcy."

 

“We are so excited to see the Open Streets: Restaurants and Play Streets initiatives continue to grow, bringing new recreation opportunities and outdoor dining locations to our Open Streets and pedestrian plazas in all five boroughs,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “We thank Mayor de Blasio and our many agency and community partners for keeping up the hard work and helping New Yorkers stay prosperous, healthy and socially active in the fresh air as we emerge step by step from the COVID crisis.”  

 

"Our City continues to benefit from the ever-popular Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs,” said Jonnel Doris, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. “As more restaurants get involved, we continue to see the great benefit these initiatives bring to our City and to the people who patronize these businesses.” 

 

New Open Streets: Restaurants Locations:

 

Organization	On Street	From Street	To Street	Borough
3rd Ave BID	Alexander Ave	Bruckner Blvd	E 134th St	BX
Park Slope 5th Ave BID	5th Ave	Sterling Pl	Berkely Pl	BK
Prospect Heights NDC	Vanderbilt Ave	Pacific St	Atlantic Ave	BK
99 Favor Taste	61st St	7th Ave	8th Ave	BK
Chinatown BID	Bayard St	Mott Street	Mulberry St	MN
Calabria Restaurant dba Il Brigante Restaurant	Front St	Peck Slip	Beekman St	MN
34th Street Partnership	32nd St	6th Ave	Broadway	MN
	Broadway	32nd St	31st St	MN
Casa Nomad restaurant and Akin Hospitality Group	Broadway	W 29th St	W 31st St	MN
Mari Makan LLC	Spring St	Mott St	Elizabeth St	MN
Peasant	Elizabeth St	Spring St	Prince St	MN
120 Marcus Meets Malcolm	W 120th St	Malcolm X Blvd	Mt Morris Park W	MN
Flatiron 23rd St Partnership	Broadway	W 28th St	W 29th St	MN
Flatiron 23rd St Partnership	Broadway	W 21st St	W 22nd St	MN
Friends of Diversity Plaza	37th Rd	75th St	74th St	QN
The Angiuli Group	Minthorne St	Bay St	Victory Blvd	SI

 

The first round of Open Streets: Restaurants locations, announced July 2^nd, focused on streets that were already participating in the Open Streets program, and on corridors represented by organizations that have worked with DOT on street closures in the past. The second tranche announced, July 17^th, added 26 new locations. A third round, announced on July 31^st, included 15 locations. Today’s announcement brings the citywide total to 76 participating streets and 9 pedestrian plazas.

 

The hours of operation for this new expanded seating option for restaurants will be from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday nights, and noon to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

 

New Play Streets include locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island, in partnership with the Police Athletic League and the Staten Island Open and Play Streets Coalition:

 

 

Neighborhood	Boro	Street	From	To	Partner	Start Date	End Date	Days	Times
Morrisania	BX	170th St	Webster Ave	Park Ave	PAL	TBD	9/4/20	M,T, W, Th	12pm - 5pm
Red Hook	BK	Wolcott Street	Richards St	Van Brunt St	PAL	8/1/20	9/4/20	M,T, W, Th	12pm - 5pm
Port Richmond	SI	Hill St	Tompkins St	Warren St	SIOAPSC	8/27/20	8/27/20	Th	12pm - 4pm
Port Richmond	SI	Henderson Ave	Alaska St	Broadway	SIOAPSC	9/3/20	9/3/20	Th	12pm - 4pm

 

At Play Streets locations, children participate in independent crafting and art projects that include making kaleidoscopes, birdhouses, rhythm drums, and cloud climbers. Giant board games such as Connect 4 and Jenga are also available. Sports drills include basketball, frisbee, softball, wiffle ball, kickball, and laser tag. Reading corners, dance classes, cardio and yoga exercises are also be provided. All programming is creatively designed to meet social distancing guidelines.

 

Play Streets locations are launching on a rolling basis until September 4^th. Hours vary by location, but will generally be from 10 AM to 5 PM and include streets adjacent to NYCHA developments as part of the Mayor's Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety. Vehicles are not permitted to enter the streets during the hours of the full street closure. Organizing Partners will be responsible for setting up barricades and posting signage, as well as restoring the Open Street condition at the end of their programming. They will also post No Parking signage with days and times ahead of starting their activations.

 

The following Open Streets will be changed or removed from the program:

 

 

Change	Boro	Original	New
Shorten One Block	Brooklyn	Willow St (Middah to Pierrepont)	Willow St (Middah to Clarke)
Remove	Brooklyn	2nd Place (Smith St to Henry St)	None
Move & Shorten Two Blocks	Brooklyn	Livonia Ave (Mother Gaston to Powell)	Livonia Ave (Powell to Junius)
Remove	Brooklyn	Butler St (Gregory Pl to 4th Ave), Gregory Pl (Baltic St to Butler St)	None
Remove	Manhattan	Margaret Corbin Drive (Ft Washington to Cabrini Blvd)	None

 

 

Under Open Streets, pedestrians and cyclists are free to use the roadbed of each street. No through traffic is permitted, with remaining vehicle traffic limited to local deliveries, pick-ups/drop-offs, necessary city service, utility, and emergency vehicles only. Such drivers are alerted to be hyper-vigilant and to drive at 5 MPH along these routes. Regular Open Streets operate from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, with timing varying slightly depending on staff availability.

 

If you have questions about Open Streets or would like to request an Open Street in your community, please contact your NYC DOT Borough Commissioner's office.