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.

 

MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES ‘MEND NYC’ A CITYWIDE PROGRAM FOR HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY ESTABLISHMENTS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS TO MEDIATE QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES

 

  Mayor Bill de Blasio announced MEND NYC, a program to provide mediation to New Yorkers and hospitality businesses across the city who are in disputes over quality-of-life issues. This is a free, innovative alternative that can bring lasting solutions to longstanding local issues that have been laid bare by the COVID-19 crisis, which has caused an increase in complaints to 311.  

 

MEND (Mediating Establishment and Neighbor Disputes) NYC will serve hundreds of New York residents and businesses each year, creating opportunities to resolve disputes before they escalate to the need for formal enforcement, such as issuing summonses, which can add financial hardship to small businesses operating under new rules and guidelines. Mediation is a constructive conversation between people in conflict that is facilitated by an experienced, neutral third person. Mediation provides participants an opportunity to collaboratively design creative solutions and repair tense relationships. MEND will get businesses and New Yorkers to communicate directly and establish respectful ongoing dialogue, helping them to compromise and coexist.

 

“The success of our neighborhood establishments is central to our entire city's success,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “When complaints arise, MEND NYC will bring people together to creatively solve problems, helping us save deployment of our enforcement agencies for the most serious violations.”

 

"At the moment we live in now, we must find creative, common-sense solutions that help as many New Yorkers as possible, and that is exactly what MEND NYC aims to do," said Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin. "By starting with mediation, instead of going straight to inspections and summonses, we will be able to build lasting, healthier relationships with residents and businesses across New York City."

 

“MEND NYC will use mediation to mend strained relationships between neighbors and businesses and resolve quality of life issues before an enforcement agency is called in for inspection and summonses issued,” said Joni Kletter, Commissioner and Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH).  “The end goal for MEND NYC is to help create an environment where New York City residents and businesses successfully coexist and our neighborhoods flourish.”

 

“After two years of piloting a mediation program to help resolve quality of life issues between venues and residents, I’m grateful that our office is launching MEND NYC in partnership with OATH,” said the Senior Executive Director of New York City's Office of Nightlife at the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Ariel Palitz. “We can’t wait to offer this service and help New York City and its nightlife community find common ground and thrive together, again.”

 

The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) will administer the MEND NYC program in partnership with the Office of Nightlife at the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. OATH is the City’s central independent administrative law court where summonses issued by the City’s various enforcement agencies are filed.  Also housed in OATH is the City’s central mediation center, the Center for Creative Conflict Resolution, which has traditionally been responsible for mediating City government workplace conflict.  MEND NYC will represent the first time OATH’s Center for Creative Conflict Resolution makes its services and expertise widely available to the general public, with mediations taking place outside of the OATH court system hearing process.  OATH has professional mediators and conflict resolution trainers at its Center but OATH has also worked diligently to partner with conflict resolution groups and law schools across the City to build up a roster of trained mediators who can assist the MEND NYC program.  These mediators will be working pro bono and will help ensure that the MEND NYC program is available to all who want to participate in this free option.

 

The Office of Nightlife, a non-enforcement liaison between the City and the nightlife industry and community, will be actively referring cases where there may be chronic or urgent quality of life complaints related to a restaurant, bar, or other nightlife venue. The Office of Nightlife will also provide education and support to businesses to assist with compliance and with maintaining good relationships with their neighbors. 

 

“MEND NYC will help New Yorkers and their local nightlife businesses mend relationships, forge lasting solutions and thrive together,” said the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Anne del Castillo. “Our hospitality sector defines our city as a global center of commerce and creativity. When we work together in this way, we can assure a strong recovery for New York City.”

 

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Administration has worked tirelessly to find creative solutions to help the business community recover. Education and communication are two key parts of ensuring that the recovery process continues unabated. Fines should serve as a last resort because they hinder the recovery process for small businesses. To that end, MEND NYC will serve as invaluable resource, bringing businesses and residents to the table to discuss and resolve critical issues of common concern. Commissioner Kletter and Executive Director Palitz have the passion and foresight to ensure the program’s success,” said Kapil Longani, Counsel to the Mayor.

 

“As a City, we look to provide our small businesses with a full scope of services to ensure their businesses grow and thrive and that they consistently get the resources they need. This new program, from our partners at OATH, works to ensure that business owners have the opportunities to correct their violations prior to being fined. We are working collaboratively to fairly address the challenges our small businesses face at this time,” said Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris.