Mayor de Blasio to Shutdown 100 Miles of NYC Streets Following a Weekend of Packed Parks

During a virtual press conference on Monday morning Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to growing calls to shutdown NYC streets for pedestrian-only use this summer as social distancing measures are likely to extend through the coming months.

Working with the NYPD, DOT, Parks Department and community organizations we’re going to open up streets in and around parks, expand sidewalks and use barricades to open up neighborhood streets. We’ll also be increasing bike lanes.

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 27, 2020

Mayor de Blasio said he will open 40 miles of streets by the start of summer with the greater goal of reserving 100 miles of streets for pedestrians this year.

“Working with the NYPD, DOT, Parks Department and community organizations we’re going to open up streets in and around parks, expand sidewalks and use barricades to open up neighborhood streets. We’ll also be increasing bike lanes,” de Blasio tweeted on Monday morning, later adding the correction that the “NYPD will not be, and does not need to be, involved beyond dropping their barricades to close off the streets.”

 

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Huge news! Today Mayor de Blasio committed to opening 100 miles of streets for socially responsible recreation during this health crisis. The Mayor said this effort would focus on the streets around parks. This photo shows crowding in McCarren Park from this past Saturday. Link to Streetsblog article in bio. Big win for #openstreets

A post shared by North Brooklyn Neighbors (@northbrooklynneighbors) on Apr 27, 2020 at 7:36am PDT

With beautiful sunny weather last Saturday, crowds of people were once-again photographed in Domino and McCarren Parks.

The exercise equipment at McCarren Park was taped off last week to restrict access to the high-touch machines where people have continued to sweat it out side-by-side during the pandemic.

The tabloid TMZ even got a kick out of the hordes of parkgoers lounging on Saturday in Domino Park.

NYC’s Domino Park Packed to the Gills, Not Much Social Distancing https://t.co/72P9Vl0GBc

— TMZ (@TMZ) April 25, 2020

Videos of dozens of people laying on the grass and hanging out with friends at Domino Park were also posted on social media to draw attention to the lax social distancing.

@NYGovCuomo today at Domino Park in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/J0yjwT5oT6

— Sarah Dawson (@sarahbeth_says) April 25, 2020

The City Council proposed a bill last week to restrict access to vehicles on 75 miles of NYC streets in order to give residents more space for recreation, which de Blasio initially did not back.

According to the website Streetsblog, a statement from Council Speaker Corey Johnson roughly outlines the open streets plan and includes more bike lanes and widened sidewalks:

“The open streets will be sourced from five broad categories

• up to 60 miles of streets within and adjacent to parks (editor’s note: “within” is a key word, as it potentially covers scores of miles)

• up to 20 miles of streets identified in consultation with local precincts, in consultation with community boards and other partners

• up to 10 miles of streets managed by local partners such as BIDs, block associations, or other civic groups (perhaps a reference to Broadway-style interventions that Streetsblog previously covered).

• up to 2.5 miles of widened sidewalks

• up to 10 miles of protected bike lanes”