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CB2 committee outlines criteria for temporary "open streets" and shared-street pilot
Summary
Manhattan Community Board 2Traffic & Transportation Committee discussed a draft list of potential temporary open streets and criteria for shared-street pilots, emphasizing local use, emergency access, signage, and coordination with business and block associations.
The committee discussed a preliminary list of candidate streets for temporary "open streets" or "shared streets," a citywide concept promoted by the mayor and City Council to provide more outdoor space for walking and social distancing during the pandemic. Shirley (chair, Manhattan Community Board 2 Traffic and Transportation Committee) explained the list was a starting point solicited from community suggestions, not a final roster.
Speakers repeatedly stressed the proposal is meant to be temporary and local, not to close streets to emergency vehicles or essential deliveries. Several residents and BID representatives said they want to preserve business access and urged the committee to avoid heavy truck routes, bus routes, and streets that serve as major thoroughfares. “This was really meant to be an opportunity to expand open spaces for local residents, not for outsiders to come into the area,” a committee member said during the discussion.
The group agreed on a short set of practical criteria to include in a draft resolution: prioritize streets that are low in through vehicular traffic; add streets with insufficient sidewalk capacity for social distancing; keep access for emergency and delivery vehicles; require signage and entrance controls (for example, —not a through street— signs and 5 mph speed limits); and distribute open streets geographically so they do not become citywide destinations that draw outside crowds.
Speakers from business improvement districts described how shared streets have helped businesses and pedestrian activity in other neighborhoods and urged outreach to local BIDs, block associations and tenant groups. Residents from narrow-cross-street blocks and members of the committee urged caution on streets used regularly by large delivery trucks or construction staging; several named Mercer, Prince, and certain Soho streets as inappropriate for closure.
Committee members asked staff to draft a short, public-facing one-pager explaining the criteria and definitions (shared street vs. full closure), to solicit additional input from block associations before the next meeting and to incorporate the criteria into the board
No formal vote was taken during the meeting; members agreed to prepare draft resolution language based on the criteria and to follow up with DOT, the city council speaker
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