Public Space

I can't say with certainty that this is the first NYC community board meeting held in a public plaza, but it certainly is the first I've heard of in my 22 years in New York City. On Thursday, Queens Community Board 3 held their monthly meeting amid the hustle and bustle of Jackson Heights' Diversity Plaza on 37th Road between 73rd and 74th Streets.

DOT's plaza program has brought new public spaces to neighborhoods across the city, and even most City Council members can appreciate that. To ensure that the new plazas don't deteriorate after implementation, the city only installs them if a local partner pledges to maintain the space. Sometimes, finding a maintenance partner can be challenging -- and this is especially the case in less affluent parts of the city.

When Putnam Plaza opened nearly two years ago in Clinton Hill, it was welcomed with a dance party. Last Friday, the dancing continued as the Fulton Area Business Alliance, the local business improvement district, held one of its FAB Friday events in the plaza. The space featured games, live music, and a portable library allowing people to sit and relax with a book. On Sunday evening, the BID hosted Soul Aerobics in the plaza. FAB Friday events are also scheduled this summer for Cuyler Gore Park and Fowler Square plaza in Fort Greene.

NYC DOT's plaza program hit a milestone today, when officials cut the ribbon on a block of Willoughby Street reclaimed from car traffic between Pearl and Adams Streets in Downtown Brooklyn. What used to be, essentially, a private parking lot for government placard holders, is now the first plaza program project to make the transition from temporary materials to permanent construction.

A community-driven proposal to create a new public space on a street near the Lincoln Tunnel was endorsed by Manhattan Community Board 4 Wednesday.

Last night Brooklyn Community Board 2's transportation committee voted 7-0, with one abstention, to support the conversion of Fowler Square Plaza in Fort Greene from a temporary public space to a permanent feature of the neighborhood. The committee vote followed a DOT presentation showing that Fowler Square Plaza has had a minimal impact on traffic and is overwhelmingly popular with businesses, plaza users, and nearby residents.

A reminder for readers who live in and around Fort Greene: The Brooklyn Community Board 2 transportation committee is taking up the matter of Fowler Square plaza tonight, and if you head over to 180 Remsen Street to weigh in, you can help this new public space become a permanent neighborhood fixture.

We've got a heads up for an event early next week. There's a public plaza in the works for the triangle where Bedford Avenue meets Broadway in Brooklyn, right by the Williamsburg Bridge. As you can see, there's currently a lake of asphalt occupying some space that could be doing a whole lot more for the neighborhood than it is now.

DOT is scheduled to go before Community Board 2's transportation committee on December 18 with plans to make the new pedestrian plaza at Fowler Square in Fort Greene a permanent redesign. Before the city went ahead with reclaiming this block of North Elliott Place for the plaza, a small, vocal contingent -- mostly upset that they would have to slightly alter their driving routes -- predicted that the new public space would be unsafe for walking. Previously, another opponent claimed the plaza would "split the neighborhood apart." Now that everyone has had the summer and fall to see the plaza in action, we thought we'd check in with some local business owners about what they think of the project.