City Should Invest In Safe, 'Vibrant' Open Streets: Advocates

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, NY — Vanderbilt Avenue is proof of how protected, public open space can benefit a community, electeds and advocates said at a rally Saturday.

Successful Open Streets — like the stretch of Vanderbilt Avenue from Park Place to Atlantic Avenue — have outgrown their pandemic-era supplies and need infrastructure investments from the city, advocates said at Saturday's rally in Prospect Heights.

Advocates called on city officials to provide additional funding to make safe and successful Open Streets permanent.

“Each of the 86 days we’ll run Vanderbilt Avenue Open Streets this year, we’ll be creating two and a half acres of temporary public open space,” said Gib Veconi, chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council.

"Doing that with 90 metal barriers and 100 traffic cones requires an enormous amount of labor, and comes with real operating challenges."

The group, which included Open Plans, Transportation Alternatives, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council and City Council Members, pointed to the success of the Open Streets program at promoting street safety and local business.

“For many months each year, everyday New Yorkers work miracles — they transform traffic-clogged streets into oases of joy, community, and culture,” said Jackson Chabot, a director at Open Plans. "

The beloved Vanderbilt Avenue Open Street significantly boosted local sales, according to a study from NYC's Department of Transportation.

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Organizers said the city could make small street improvements to reduce the labor required for safe operation, freeing up time for workers to move Open Streets into a more permanent open public space.

“Most Brooklyn residents don’t own a car. The City has a responsibility to make sure they have the right to decide how their streets ought to serve them. That’s especially urgent given citywide concerns about increasing traffic violence and impacts of climate change,” said Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon.