Happy Memorial Day Weekend

5:00 PM EDT on May 25, 2007

Broad Street looking north from Exchange Place

Remove cars from a New York City street, even just for security reasons, and civil society flourishes in their place. On Broad Steet traffic has been restricted in front of the New York Stock Exchange since September 11, 2001. Special pavement, tables, chairs and benches have turned a dull and commonplace automobile-movement-and-storage zone into what amounts to a public park, a kind of a permanent parking spot squat for Wall Street.

Happy Memorial Day weekend from Streetsblog. If you're driving out of town, consider paying down your carbon debt with a solar-powered barbecue -- just make sure to wear sunscreen while you're using it. See you Tuesday

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

Stay in touch

More from Streetsblog New York City

Criminal Crackdown on Cyclists 2025

Cyclists in Criminal Court Say Mamdani’s Bike Crackdown is a ‘Waste of Time’

The hearings reveal that the mayor's promise to end criminal summonsing against cyclists has not been kept.

Kevin Duggan

February 3, 2026

Streetsblog Empire State Issues & Campaigns

‘Lowballing Victims’: Crash Survivors Furious At Hochul’s Car Insurance Proposal

Crash victims and a key state lawmaker are not yet sold on Hochul's car insurance scheme, and hope that the state listens.

February 3, 2026

Transit Funding

Opinion: Transit Watchword Should Be Synergy, Not Scarcity

Two fantastic transit ideas — fast and free buses, and a 17-percent expansion of subway mileage — are being set up as adversaries. But they're complementary.

Charles Komanoff

February 3, 2026

MTA

Does Hochul’s 125th Street Subway Have to Be That Expensive?

The western extension of the Second Avenue Subway has a $7.7-billion price tag that calls into question the very logic of building it at all — but advocates and researchers say the train is a good idea that could cost a lot less with some minor alterations.