Organizers of Park Slope’s Open Streets need $40K to operate the program
The Fifth Avenue BID says the money goes to various aspects of the beloved program including, insurance, permits and signage
With spring around the corner, so too is Open Streets, the Covid-era pedestrianization of select local neighborhoods on weekends.
The program — as mostly-beloved as it is — comes with a price tag, though. Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District is asking for $40,000 in donations to help operate theirs, which begins in May.
“Operating Open Streets requires people to open and close the blocks to traffic, manage emergency situations, support small businesses and keep you safe,” the organization says on its donation page. “Barricades, signage, insurance, radios, payroll taxes and safety items are costs we have to cover.”
Part of the cost will be covered by a grant from the Department of Transportation, but organizers say they need more.
Roughly $1,700 of the $40,000 goal had been donated as of Saturday morning. One person that donated said the new tradition makes Park Slope an “ideal neighborhood” to live in.
This year, Park Slope’s Open Streets will be in effect during two different time periods along Fifth Avenue: from May 6 to July 29 on Saturdays, then take an extended break for August and returns after Labor Day from September 9 to October 29, also on Saturdays.
Critics of the program have complained that Open Streets has drastically diminished the number of available parking spots in the borough and also contributed to an influx of rats and crowding.
