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Vanderbilt Avenue open street in Prospect Heights will be in effect Saturdays only this summer
By
Liam Quigley
Published Feb 28, 2025
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Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council
By
Liam Quigley
Published Feb 28, 2025
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A popular open street on Brooklyn's Vanderbilt Avenue that began during the COVID pandemic will return this summer – but only on Saturdays.
The curtailed hours, first reported by Streetsblog, will limit the warm weather hangout known for outdoor dining, picnicking and live performances to just Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. The street will be closed to traffic that day from May to September, according to organizers.
The stretch from Atlantic Avenue to Park Place in Prospect Heights was previously closed to traffic on Friday afternoons and on Sundays, as well. Organizers say that a lack of funding from the city is partially to blame.
“It might seem really organic and natural, but it's actually quite an expensive program to run,” said Alex Morano a volunteer organizer. He credited the transportation department for helping run the program, but said that the agency is constrained by a lack of funding from City Hall.
”They're giving us the resources that they can, which will hopefully include some staff support for Vanderbilt this year. But they don't have a blank check for this,” Morano said.
Transportation department officials countered that the reduced hours are a result of community feedback.
Some businesses complained about the open street program, saying that it tied up traffic on nearby Washington Ave. and limited access for customers who drive.
The agency said it is considering permanent redesigns of the street that could add permanent public space similar to parts of Broadway in Manhattan, where the amount of space dedicated to vehicles was greatly reduced at all hours in favor of pedestrians.
“We are committed to delivering a permanent redesign of Vanderbilt Avenue that builds on the successes of the Open Street with public space and safety improvements, as we have already delivered to Underhill Avenue, where we’ve seen reductions in crashes and injuries,” said transportation department spokesperson Anna Correa.
A transportation official said the agency spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on the Vanderbilt open street, as well as another popular one on 34th Avenue in Queens.
The organizers behind the Vanderbilt open street are asking for more money to support the program, saying that it “gets tougher to run every year.”
“We are advocating for programs like Vanderbilt so we can all enjoy the benefits of Open Streets for a little more time each year. For now, all our effort will go towards making sure Saturdays on Vanderbilt Ave are the best day of the week for everyone,” the group said.
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transportation
brooklyn
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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