Courtesy of Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District
Park Slope’s Open Streets will return to Fifth Ave — with big changes
The popular program begins next weekend with a new sponsor, but will be shortened to just four blocks
Park Slope’s Open Streets, one of the few welcome pandemic-era perks, is returning this after avoiding a close call with being eliminated entirely.
A new sponsor has stepped into save the summer-long event after Park Slope’s Business Improvement District pulled out of the program. This year, New York Presbyterian Hospital has come to the rescue. However, it’s implementing major changes that will see the program shrink from 16 blocks to just four in the heart of neighborhood.
In an Instagram post Saturday, the Park Slope Open Streets proudly proclaimed that organizers have “been hard at work behind the scenes to make this a reality, and can finally officially announce WE ARE ON.”
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community and partners who wanted to save this program,” the post continued.
Open Street’s begins May 4 and runs Saturdays until October, with a brief break in August. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with live music and other events planned for the afternoons. The truncated version of Open Streets will run between President and Second Streets.
The program, created during the height of the pandemic to bring people outside and support local businesses, hasbeen a boon for local shops according to surveys measuring their financial impact. However, the city isn’t the funding the programs any more, leaving the burden on neighborhood organizations to shoulder the costs.
Critics of the program have complained that Open Streets has drastically diminished the number of available parking spots in the neighborhood and also contributed to an influx of rats and crowding.
