Wednesday’s Headlines: Four for Fifth Edition

You may recall previous Streetsblog reporting about how the organizers of the Fifth Avenue open street in Brooklyn had bailed due to a lack of cash, forcing the Department of Transportation to find a new volunteer or business group to run the popular weekend car-free street.

The good news? The DOT has inked a deal with the Fifth Avenue Open Streets Merchants Association to operate the open street, which will be in place every Saturday from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.

The bad news? What was once 15 blocks of blissful promenade in 2023 will shrink to just four this year, according to DOT’s 2024 slate of open streets released last week.

But at least we now know.

In other news:

• In Brooklyn, many of us went to a protest and a seder broke out. Naturally, the Post and the Times were there, but so was omnipresent Liam Quigley, sharing a thread:

• All the outlets (including Streetsblog!) covered the barrage of questions Mayor Adams received about his apparent choice of Randy Mastro to be corporate counsel. (NYDN, NY Post, NY Times, The City, Crain’s)
• Bus riders did not win big in the state budget. (Crain’s)
• The MTA should do more to promote its bathrooms, says Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. (NY Post)
• Speaking of renovations, here’s the latest list of re-NEW-vations coming to the subway. (amNY)
• Council Member Kamillah Hanks of Staten Island wants more OMNY machines. (Gothamist)
• And, finally, the mayor said at his weekly press conference that “nothing brings us a greater level of comfort than having that blue uniform,” but Riders Alliance’s Derrick Holmes found plenty of riders who disagree: