Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today that 22 new and existing open streets will become spaces for restaurants to set up outdoor dining on weekends throughout the summer, starting tomorrow.
During his Thursday morning press conference, de Blasio explained that when a great idea (Open Streets) falls in love with another great idea (Open Restaurants), they have a great idea, baby: “Sometimes a great idea meets another great idea and they come together and create something even better, something really very special, “he said. “The idea of Open Streets and the idea of Open Restaurants come together to create something very special for this summer in New York.”
With the return of indoor food on hold due to the alarming increase in coronavirus cases across the country due to such reopening efforts, the mayor said: “We have to double open streets and open restaurants and bring them together to address the situation. And we bring the best options to our restaurants, to their employees, and we also know that people love it, we’ve seen incredible, incredible responses from New York. “
The 22 selected streets, totaling up to 2.6 miles of open streets, will be open from 5 pm to 11 pm on Friday nights, and from noon to 11 pm on Saturdays and Sundays during July and August. From now on, the program will only run until Labor Day, but de Blasio noted that “we’re going to see” continue the program until the fall.
They include several streets full of multiple restaurants, such as Mulberry Street in Little Italy, Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, and Arthur Avenue in The Bronx, which was announced earlier this week. You can see the list of starting streets below.
The city’s initial offerings of open streets for al fresco dining on July 2, 2020
New York Mayor’s Office
New York Mayor’s Office
The mayor also said the city plans to add more streets to the “Open Restaurants on Open Streets” program in the coming weeks, specifically citing Dyckman Street in northern Manhattan as an example. In a press release, the city said another 10-20 brokers will be approved beginning Friday, July 17. They add: “The restaurants in these corridors will be able to place the seats farther from the sidewalk than other Open Restaurants participants, and the remaining street space will be open to pedestrian traffic.”
“Think about what is possible if we can turn them into outdoor meal centerpieces,” de Blasio said. “This will open up a world of possibilities and bring many people back to their jobs.” (If you choose to participate, mask, distance and tilt well).
So far, New York has opened about 67 miles of open streets in the past two months, the most in the country. The most recent expansion of the Open Streets program came in late June, when Mayor de Blasio announced that the city would restrict motorists from 23 more miles of open streets, including nine miles of temporarily protected bike lanes.
Nearly 7,000 restaurants have applied for sidewalk permits and sidewalk dining space during the pandemic since the city announced they could use the outdoor space to reopen. You can also read more about how a stretch of Arthur Avenue is being transformed into an outdoor dining plaza.
