Queens' Open Streets Are Not Equitably Distributed, Study Finds

ASTORIA-LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Less than half of the city’s “Open Streets” are operating as the car-free community gathering spaces that the city touted them to be, a new study found.

And, the 24 miles of Open Streets that are currently operational — which in and of itself falls short of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal of 100 miles of car-free streets — are not distributed equitably, the study by the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives also revealed.

Only one in five New Yorkers live within walking distance of an active Open Street, with most of those in predominantly white, higher-income neighborhoods, the study found; a trend that holds true in Queens.

There are 57 Queens Open Streets listed on the city’s official database. Volunteers from Transportation Alternatives accounted for 41 of those when they stopped by the borough’s Open Streets over the summer to conduct the survey. (In Manhattan, at least, it is possible that the survey relied on outdated information, Patch found.)

Of the Open Streets surveyed, only 13 were active, meaning at least one volunteer saw barriers up during the streets operating hours. More than half of those active streets are in Northwest Queens, specifically including Astoria and Long Island City.

Most of the inactive Open Streets, by contrast, are located in Southeast Queens. The study found that there are no active Open Streets south of Forest Park; a stretch of the borough that’s been systemically left out of infrastructure investments in the past, too.

This is not the first time that the equity of Open Streets has been brought into question. Earlier this year, in fact, the City Council voted to make the program permanent, with the intention of expanding the car-free outdoor spaces in underserved neighborhoods — a promise that the city is working on this month.

Here's a map of the Open Streets in Queens, according to the survey. Active streets are in yellow, non-operational streets are in blue:

Responses to Open Streets: pushback and support

While the City Council is in support of Open Streets, the program has faced some pushback during its expansion. In some Brooklyn neighborhoods, for instance, program volunteers faced harassment from drivers, some of whom stole barricades.

Some of the pushback, however, has come from volunteers themselves, who have called on the city for more resources and support. In Astoria, volunteers told Patch that they spent months trying to remove an abandoned car that was obstructing the 31st Avenue Open Street.

These calls for help are particularly dire in neighborhoods where Open Streets are already under-resourced, like Harlem, where organizers told Patch have also dealt with illegally parked cars and a lack of city support.

Still, the Transportation Alternatives survey concluded that most people support closing some streets to cars. (The group itself is in strong support of Open Streets; having named its survey “Open Streets Forever: The Case For Permanent 24/7 Open Streets.”)

"This report makes one thing clear: New Yorkers love Open Streets, and they want to see them succeed," said Danny Harris, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, in a statement, citing another survey where 63 percent of New York voters expressed support for the program.

"However, Mayor de Blasio has broken his promise to expand the program equitably. All communities deserve Open Streets and the health, climate, and safety benefits they provide,” he said.