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Open Plans wins $100,000 grant to expand Clarkson Street open‑street for City Ave School; board asks for early input
Summary
Open Plans told Community Board 2 on July 29 it received a $100,000 Project for Public Spaces grant to add permanent curbside safety and play features to an existing open street at City Ave and that it is beginning stakeholder engagement and early design work.
Open Plans, a nonprofit that works with schools and neighborhoods on public‑space projects, told the Community Board 2 Traffic and Transportation Committee on July 29 that it has received a $100,000 community grant from the Project for Public Spaces to develop more permanent safety and play infrastructure on the Clarkson Street open‑street used by City Ave School and an adjacent District 75 school.
The project covers the block where City Ave runs an OpenStreets program Monday–Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and where two co‑located schools — City Ave and M721 (District 75) — have been using the open street for student activities and programs. Sabina Sethi Unni, a school planner at Open Plans, said the group is in an early engagement and research phase and intends to return with design proposals after collecting more input.
"We received one of their community grants for $100,000 to make the street safer for the entire community and easier for students across those schools to play," Sethi Unni said. "We're very early in the stages — we haven't drawn designs yet. We're collecting input from the school, students, neighbors, businesses and the community board."
Why it matters
City Ave and M721 share a building and have limited indoor play space; the open street has been used as a substitute play area and program space. Committee members pressed project staff on safety, timing and how the design would fit curbside rules and existing bike and loading activity. The grant-funded work aims to create longer‑lasting curbside elements than the temporary barricades currently used.
What Open Plans said about process and timeline
Sethi Unni said Open Plans and the schools have already run engagement activities including block parties and student workshops; the group reported about 250 student survey responses collected this spring and additional engagement planned through August and September. She said the Project for Public Spaces team — described as urban designers supporting design and permitting — will work with the city Department of Transportation (DOT) on any curbside or street changes.
"We were talking to folks, talking to community boards, talking to students, getting all the information throughout the summer into early fall," Sethi Unni said. "We'll synthesize the data and draw up designs and then, likely in spring, have proposals to present to you. Our ideal goal is late summer 2026 for installed elements; the grant asks for deliverables by May 2026, so we'll be coordinating timing with DOT and partners."
School perspective
Maria Bermudez, a City Ave School representative and alum, described the open‑street permit as "transformational," saying it has created daily space for recess and programming while the school building is under construction. She and other speakers urged the project team to prioritize student access and to avoid giving businesses an outsized role in design decisions for the block, which is primarily public land and school‑serving uses.
Coordination with local groups and DOT
Sethi Unni said Open Plans has discussed the grant with the Hudson Square Business Improvement District (BID) and that the BID will help with business outreach and curbside loading surveys, though no in‑kind donation had been finalized at the time of the presentation. Kate Sher, a DOT staff member on the call, confirmed DOT will be a permitting partner and that curbside improvements generally require DOT review.
Community board response and next steps
Board members welcomed the engagement plan and asked Open Plans to return with concrete drawings before a formal recommendation. Committee leaders said they expect repeated committee briefings as designs firm up; Open Plans said it will schedule additional public workshops in the fall and present draft designs to the committee in the spring. Open Plans also said it will circulate photos and a project landing page to track progress.
"Feedback now is really helpful; we'll post community workshops later in the fall and host design workshops in March," Sethi Unni said. "We'll also present back to you in May when we have more to show."
