Summer Streets ran for five Saturdays covering 400 blocks of car-free space across all five boroughs and produced widespread public joy. The Department of Transportation allocated a $3 million budget for the program. The program is recommended for expansion to every Saturday in July and August with interconnected routes to enable longer explorations. A petition by Open Plans seeks public support for a larger Summer Streets next year. A news digest notes that RPA accepted Amtrak funds to promote the Gateway project, that a police vehicle ran over a man in a park raising concerns about officers' driving, and that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch's presence at a Hamptons restaurant drew scrutiny.
This year's edition - five Saturdays with a total of 400 blocks of car-free fun across narrow slices of all five boroughs - was the biggest and best ever. And here's the chaser: The Department of Transportation says the budget is just $3 million, which is pennies on the dollar for how much joy New Yorkers feel at being able to move around the city the way people in civilized places like Paris, Bogota and Pontevedra do.
It's just an awesome program that should be expanded to literally every Saturday in July and August (to start!) and include interconnected routes for longer explorations. Check out Ben Furnas's kid! It's never to early to start planing next year's program, so why not take a moment to sign a petition, put out by Open Plans, to show your support for a bigger better summer streets next year? Here's the link. And here's an Insta post:
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