Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Public Space

Based on Limited Feedback, Vallone Opposes Astoria Pedestrian Plaza

By Stephen Miller | Jun 12, 2012 | 12 Comments

City Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. opposes a proposal to create a new pedestrian plaza in public space-starved Astoria. The plaza is one of the options on the table for a dangerous intersection that NYC DOT has targeted for safety imporovements. The irregular intersection of 33rd Street, 30th Avenue and Newtown Avenue has long been […]

Times’ Ped Plaza-Bashing Queens Reporter Enjoys Using Queens Ped Plaza

By Brad Aaron | Jun 8, 2012 | 16 Comments

What is it with the New York Times and the Jackson Heights pedestrian plaza? Yesterday, the paper published a piece by Sarah Maslin Nir on a mugger in the plaza who was tackled to the ground by witnesses. It’s a good story — two of the good Samaritans were missionaries up from North Carolina, another […]

Putting the Public Back in Midtown’s Privately Owned Public Spaces

By Jake Schabas | May 22, 2012 | 18 Comments

“It’s a private property with public access,” a security guard explained after stopping me from taking photos of a mid-block passageway through the Metropolitan Tower on 56th Street. The space in question, which connects 56th to 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, is one of more than 150 privately owned public spaces in central Midtown, many of which […]

Eyes on the Street: Fowler Square Plaza Opens in Fort Greene

By Noah Kazis | May 11, 2012 | 7 Comments

Fort Greene’s newest public plaza opened today and Brownstoner was on the scene to capture the moment. The plaza, which reclaimed space for pedestrians on a short, lightly-trafficked block of South Elliott Place between Fulton Street and Lafayette Avenue, connects the sidewalk to an existing public triangle. Even though construction only finished today (because the […]

Willoughby Plaza, Already a Hit, Gets a Capital Upgrade

By Noah Kazis | Apr 18, 2012 | 4 Comments

Downtown Brooklyn’s Willoughby Street plaza, located just off Adams Street, was the forerunner of New York City’s current efforts to reclaim roadways as pedestrian spaces. Built in 2006, before Janette Sadik-Khan took over the city Department of Transportation, the city used now-familiar ingredients — concrete planters and folding chairs — to close the block to […]

Jackson Heights Public Plaza, Thursday Afternoon

By Ben Fried | Mar 23, 2012 | 9 Comments

Courtesy of Clarence Eckerson, Jr., here are some more scenes from the Jackson Heights pedestrian plaza that don’t fit the New York Times’ preferred narrative. Clarence says he passed through the plaza three times yesterday and it was bustling each time. On a Thursday. Related posts: The Jackson Heights Plaza Photo the Times Doesn’t Want […]

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