"And at those 200 or so locations, more than 67,200 jobs were created - with nearly a majority of those slots (46 percent) created at the 62 locations that had an open street for all five years between 2020 and 2024. Almost 98 percent of those were created in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but that's because those boroughs are more likely to have had open streets from the start of the pandemic through 2024."
"The new data won't surprise New Yorkers who have been paying attention to the business-friendly quality of car-free streets. In 2022, the Department of Transportation reported that restaurants and bars on open streets increased their sales by 19 percent above their pre-pandemic baseline while sales dropped by 29 percent at establishments that weren't on car-free corridors. Two years later, the Department of City Planning reported that open streets have a 12-percent lower vacancy rate than the citywide average."
Job growth is stronger on most of the city's open streets, with more than 74 percent of non-school locations adding retail and restaurant jobs. About 200 open-street locations created over 67,200 jobs, with 46 percent of those positions at 62 locations that had an open street for all five years from 2020 to 2024. Nearly 98 percent of the jobs were created in Manhattan and Brooklyn, reflecting those boroughs' greater open-street presence. Manhattan saw significantly more retail and restaurant job additions, Brooklyn and the Bronx saw modest gains, while Queens and Staten Island saw fewer gains, likely due to lower participation.
Read at Streetsblog
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