Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Plazas

One Year Later, Businesses and Residents Back Safer Union Square

By Noah Kazis | Sep 14, 2011 | 2 Comments

It’s been a year since DOT made more room for pedestrians and cyclists around Union Square, and a recent survey shows a neighborhood happy with its new public spaces. Feedback from businesses and residents led DOT to back away from its original proposal to, among other things, close two blocks of Union Square West to […]

A Verbal Tour of Midtown With Public Space Maestro Dan Biederman

By Ben Fried | Aug 3, 2011 | 10 Comments

Before Dan Biederman came to Bryant Park, there were no movable chairs, no free movies on summer evenings, no kiosks selling sandwiches and refreshments. No lunch time crowds and not much in the way of civic life or social activity, either. There was, basically, an open-air drug market in the New York Public Library’s backyard. […]

Eyes on the Street: Public Space Upgrades for Allen and Pike in Progress

By Noah Kazis | Jul 25, 2011 | 14 Comments

Crews are currently at work turning the new pedestrian plazas and protected bike lanes on Pike Street and Allen Street into more attractive, long-term fixtures of the Lower East Side. The new construction will add landscaping and higher-quality materials, helping the local community achieve the vision developed for Allen and Pike Streets in a multi-year […]

DOT Unveils Livable Streets Makeover for Approach to Brooklyn Bridge Park

By Ben Fried | Jun 28, 2011 | 12 Comments

Last week NYC DOT presented plans for expanded pedestrian areas and upgraded bike markings on Old Fulton Street, which serves as the primary gateway to the recently opened Pier 1 of Brooklyn Bridge Park. The plan [PDF] calls for a new pedestrian plaza, treatments to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists crossing highway exits, and […]

Eyes on the Street: Chowing Down in Midtown’s Public Spaces

By Ben Fried | Jun 7, 2011 | 2 Comments

Yesterday the 18th Annual Taste of Times Square filled up the crossroads of the world, serving dishes to throngs of people. DNAinfo reports that the event broke with tradition a little bit, and the vendors were better off for it: This year the festival concentrated all its booths on Broadway, instead of to placing them […]

Vacca Watch: At Budget Hearing, Council Calms Down, Focuses on Potholes

By Noah Kazis | Jun 3, 2011 | 10 Comments

Call it the case of the missing demagoguery. Yesterday’s City Council transportation budget hearing was less notable for what was said than what wasn’t. Attacks on the city’s proposed parking meter rate increase were largely absent, and the scapegoating of bike lanes and pedestrian plazas that has dominated recent hearings in James Vacca’s committee failed […]

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