Volunteers Are Funding Open Streets Programs. Why Isn’t the City?

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Car-free streets in New York exist largely in spite of, rather than because of, the city. CarolineSpivack reports

Photo: Jim Burke Each morning at 8 a.m., about a dozen volunteers in orange safety vests drag barricades to close off a 26-block stretch of 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights. Soon, residents trickle onto the mile of road. Instead of cars, strollers and wheelchairs and cyclists roll in. A group of seniors unfurls chairs and gathers for daily bingo. Neighbors lay yoga mats on the asphalt for weekly classes and, a few yards away, sit in a circle for English-language lessons.

Which is not to say that they haven’t tried to get the city to step up. In March, more than five dozen community groups wrote an open letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio urging the city to dedicate some resources to these groups. Three days later, the administration announced a new application process for the 2021 season — presumably in the works before the letter — but added no money and few other resources.

 

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