The Department of Transportation plans to scale back a popular car-free plaza in Greenpoint after a six-week trial, instead relaunching it as a weekend open street later next month.
The so-called "Bedford Slip" between Nassau and Manhattan Avenues became a full-time pedestrian space starting in July, as DOT closed the left-turning road to drivers to reduce congestion for nearby shuttle buses during the G train shutdown in that neighborhood.
The space hosted tables and chairs, outdoor markets, and regular Sunday dinners during its limited timespan, and the city had initially planned to just resume business as usual — i.e. car traffic.
But after a push by locals to keep the street for people not automobiles beyond the subway repairs, DOT decided it will become a regular fixture only on Saturdays and Sundays between Sept. 28 and the end of the year.
"The community clearly embraced temporarily opening the Bedford slip lane to pedestrians to improve bus service during the first phase of the G train shutdown," DOT spokeswoman Mona Bruno told Streetsblog in a statement. "We are working with residents to develop a longer-term vision for this block through the Open Streets program."
The North Brooklyn Parks Alliance will manage the space, after having set up the temporary plaza with other local volunteers over the last weeks, and its executive director still hopes to eventually expand the part-time closure around the clock.
"We were successful in proving the ability to manage the space as a pedestrian plaza, the desire in the community to have it be a public plaza," said Katie Denny Horowitz. "We’ll continue pushing for 24/7, more in line with a public plaza instead of an open street, because that’s the goal."
The offshoot near the northern tip of McCarren Park is one of the busiest corners for pedestrian traffic in north Brooklyn, and open streets boosters have closed it to traffic before on a couple of weekends in recent years. The six-week experiment of a full closure proved that the space was ripe for a plaza, said one local lawmaker.
"I think that the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance and the North Brooklyn Open Streets Community Coalition have done a tremendous job activating this space over the past six weeks, and demonstrated to the community that this is a location that would benefit tremendously from a plaza and a permanent open space," said Council Member Lincoln Restler.
The end of the temporary space came as the subway resumed service in the north Brooklyn neighborhood this week, with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority moving further south along the G train to upgrade the crosstown line's ancient signaling system.
However, the closure of the street to drivers has riled some businesses, who have opposed the change of the streetscape since advocates started pushing for it four years ago.
"I’m not happy until it’s completely back to normal, the way it was," said Billy Essling, the second-generation owner of Billy's Locksmith & Security Service, which has been in the neighborhood for 47 years.
Essling said his business was down during the six-month street closure and lamented that he and his patrons couldn't park in the metered spots right outside the store.
"It was tough, because I had to go out and carry my tools and material down the block, I couldn’t pull in in front of the shop," he said. "The customers would come in and complain that they’d been driving around for 20 minutes trying to find parking to come and cut a key."
Put aside for a second that Essling's van is often occupying the metered parking when the street is open for cars, Horowitz added that businesses were negatively affected all along the G train as it was out of service for weeks, indicating that the closure of mass transit was the key factor.
"I don’t [think] the pedestrianization of this half a block has impacted the businesses," she said.
Nearly two-thirds of households don't own a car in Brooklyn's Community Board 1, which includes Greenpoint and Williamsburg, and 84 percent of people commute by transit, bike, or walking, according to data crunched by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Advocates and politicians have proposed earmarking loading zones around the corner on Manhattan Avenue, but drivers pooh-poohed that for a simple reason: other drivers can't be trusted!
"There could be a passenger car on the loading zone, they’re not gonna move," said Migmar Tsesing, manager at ID Menswear, a clothing store. "Nobody follows the rules."
The closure would provide more space at the crowded corner for people, said a sous-chef at Five Leaves, a restaurant at the southern corner of slip lane.
"That’ll draw people to the corner, give them a little space so they’re not wandering in the middle of the street," said Shawn Romero. "There is probably an influx of people, and especially on this block."
Residents have been pushing for the car-free strip since a 2020 crash where a driver pinned a woman against a boulder at the pedestrian bulbout at intersection.
There had been a handful of previous weekend closures to cars in the years since, and open space supporters collected nearly 3,400 signatures for a petition in favor of a plaza. State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Rep. Nydia Velázquez also sent DOT letters backing a full-time plaza in recent days.
