Restaurants will expand to weekdays at 40 locations citywide.
This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the first Open Streets: Restaurant partner organizations that will begin temporary street closures on weekdays for outdoor dining along select corridors.
Earlier this month, the Administration had invited Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), community-based organizations, and restaurants to submit applications to expand the enormously popular Open Streets: Restaurants.
This initiative combines the Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs. Previously, car-free hours had been limited to weekends.
“Restaurants deserve every chance they can get to serve more customers this fall – and, as the weather gets cooler, New Yorkers deserve every chance they can get to enjoy outdoor dining,” says Mayor de Blasio. “The Open Streets: Restaurants program has been a success, and we’re proud to grow its reach and give restaurants more tools to make it through this crisis.”
Open Streets: Restaurants is now operating on 87 participating streets across the five boroughs. The broader Open Restaurants initiative, which includes outdoor dining on sidewalks and in curbside parking spaces on streets open to traffic, and select pedestrian plazas, has surpassed 10,200 participating businesses in just over three months, saving an estimated 90,000 jobs across the five boroughs. The program continues through the end of October.
“This initiative has allowed New Yorkers to reclaim their streets, creating car-free areas throughout the five boroughs. However, we need to make sure we are also setting up all proper safety road measures to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe,” says Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chairman of the Transportation Committee.
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