34th Avenue "Open Street"

[dssjh]

thankfully, people can still arrange parade-like events in decorated vehicles with loudspeakers -- joyful, but socially distanced. celebrating our cultures makes NYC great.

[JackM]

It's wonderful seeing 34th Street so used.  Obviously, people were craving space.  What this shows me is what a lack of open public space we have in this neighborhood.  Travers Park is wonderful but much too small for our population.  The more closed streets we have the more space our residents will have.  Hey, here's a wild idea:  How about closing some streets permanently and converting them into park spaces with lawns, pathways, trees, and benches?  Perhaps a few blocks on 34th and a few on 37th.   

[Yankswun98]

Cars need to be moved everywhere.  Being back alternate side parking rules! The streets of JH are disgusting. I’ve never seen it so dirty

34th is disgusting with garbage on the street, side walks and center flower beds.  It needs to be closed for a day with all cars removes so it can be cleaned.  The streets between Northern and 34th are also filled with trash due to the heavy increase in foot traffic as people come from East Elmhurst to walk on 34th. Why isn't the city providing street cleaning? 

[Junior Minty]

I came across this and believe it is a fair representation of the successful shut down of 34th Ave as an Open Street. I hope that it becomes a ritual every Spring and Summer!

https://vimeo.com/424830957

[ShinjukuBaby]

Hopefully they will eventually remove all cars from 34th, tear out the road and make the entire stretch a park.  There is a spot or two where you'd need a lane so buildings could have access to their garage and you might need to make a lane available for emergency vehicles on some blocks, but there's no reason the whole thing shouldn't be a green space and recreational area.  Obviously the city budget isn't going to be able to pay for that in the foreseeable future, but we should aim high. 

[itsit]

Hopefully they will eventually remove all cars from 34th, tear out the road and make the entire stretch a park.  There is a spot or two where you'd need a lane so buildings could have access to their garage and you might need to make a lane available for emergency vehicles on some blocks, but there's no reason the whole thing shouldn't be a green space and recreational area.  Obviously the city budget isn't going to be able to pay for that in the foreseeable future, but we should aim high. 

  I would wait and see how the pandemic response goes. In my opinion, the smooth flow of traffic on 34th Ave under normal times makes all the other streets work in JH. If you upset this ecosystem, it may cost you in balance in other parts of the neighborhood with two major commercial streets and one heavily used bus route. I think this could work on a weekend as a street closure though, but during the school year, the many schools that are on or nearby 34th Ave would be nightmarish for people to navigate if there was a full time closure.

Also the bike lane on 34th Ave has been long established and is heavily used as a commuter and recreational bike route. Yes, we could use more space but wonder if we are accommodating the people who live in JH only or have we created a destination for people to be outdoors like LIC or Rockaway and do we really want that in this dense neighborhood at this time? I think there is a fair amount of concern and all voices need to be heard here, for and against.

[abcdefghijk]

Hopefully they will eventually remove all cars from 34th, tear out the road and make the entire stretch a park.  There is a spot or two where you'd need a lane so buildings could have access to their garage and you might need to make a lane available for emergency vehicles on some blocks, but there's no reason the whole thing shouldn't be a green space and recreational area.  Obviously the city budget isn't going to be able to pay for that in the foreseeable future, but we should aim high. 

  I would wait and see how the pandemic response goes. In my opinion, the smooth flow of traffic on 34th Ave under normal times makes all the other streets work in JH. If you upset this ecosystem, it may cost you in balance in other parts of the neighborhood with two major commercial streets and one heavily used bus route. I think this could work on a weekend as a street closure though, but during the school year, the many schools that are on or nearby 34th Ave would be nightmarish for people to navigate if there was a full time closure.

Also the bike lane on 34th Ave has been long established and is heavily used as a commuter and recreational bike route. Yes, we could use more space but wonder if we are accommodating the people who live in JH only or have we created a destination for people to be outdoors like LIC or Rockaway and do we really want that in this dense neighborhood at this time? I think there is a fair amount of concern and all voices need to be heard here, for and against.

This is a great idea. And fear of outsiders coming in is no reason to not implement it.

[theplanesland]

  I would wait and see how the pandemic response goes. In my opinion, the smooth flow of traffic on 34th Ave under normal times makes all the other streets work in JH. If you upset this ecosystem, it may cost you in balance in other parts of the neighborhood with two major commercial streets and one heavily used bus route. I think this could work on a weekend as a street closure though, but during the school year, the many schools that are on or nearby 34th Ave would be nightmarish for people to navigate if there was a full time closure.

Also the bike lane on 34th Ave has been long established and is heavily used as a commuter and recreational bike route. Yes, we could use more space but wonder if we are accommodating the people who live in JH only or have we created a destination for people to be outdoors like LIC or Rockaway and do we really want that in this dense neighborhood at this time? I think there is a fair amount of concern and all voices need to be heard here, for and against.

So first of all, people do not generally drive to the schools on 34th Avenue - they're very much neighborhood schools (and IS145 isn't desirable enough to draw kids from far away ... sigh.) There are definitely school buses, but those can absolutely work with the "5mph only, turn off at the next block" rule without a problem.

I've been riding my bike on 34ave and that also seems totally compatible with the car-free street. No problems there.

I don't think people will come from far away, or are coming from far away, just to walk down a street with no other attractions or entertainment. There's no view, no seashore, no playfields. The success of 34ave speaks to how starved JH is for open space; anyone with a park will probably go to their park.

[JHResident]

Cars need to be moved everywhere.  Being back alternate side parking rules! The streets of JH are disgusting. I’ve never seen it so dirty

34th is disgusting with garbage on the street, side walks and center flower beds.  It needs to be closed for a day with all cars removes so it can be cleaned.  The streets between Northern and 34th are also filled with trash due to the heavy increase in foot traffic as people come from East Elmhurst to walk on 34th. Why isn't the city providing street cleaning?

Or how about the people who sponsored and requested this street closure actually clean the streets and center median and move the barricades when local traffic has to pass through. It seems like there is no one present until after 8 pm. If anyone wants to make this permanent, there has to be more community participation.

[dssjh]

if i could change one thing about the way the open street works, i'd ban electric bikes. during a short trip to the farmers' market and a short walk after, i saw at least a dozen whizzing by at high speed, weaving through pedestrians. that's not much different than allowing cars.

[letisha]

This article has a lot of cool visuals showing NYC Open Streets of the past (like Park Ave) and what they could like in the future

It made me really excited to think about 34th St would look like if it were permanently closed to traffic!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/ban-cars-manhattan-cities.html

[itsit]

 I think it's actually 37th Ave that needs to be closed to traffic at least part of every day. The traffic flow along 34th Ave under normal times is what keeps the rest of JH from being too clogged up. I did think that article was great though. Hard to imagine that Park Avenue was once really a park!

[jh35]

https://qns.com/story/2020/07/24/play-streets-to-open-across-nyc-including-three-in-jackson-heights/?utm_source=QNS&utm_campaign=bf795efdfb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_11_07_57_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_aa3b60b1d0-bf795efdfb-181622773&mc_cid=bf795efdfb&mc_eid=a0a3dc3933

‘Play Streets’ to open across NYC, including three in Jackson Heights

The three Play Street locations in Jackson Heights will all be on 34th Avenue, a street that’s currently being utilized for the Open Streets program. Kids will be free to play on 34th Avenue from 72nd Street to 74th Street, 79th Street to 80th Street and from 92nd Street to 94th Street from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The program will run until Sep. 4.

In addition to the sporting and craft equipment, nonprofit Street Lab will provide 160 benches to Play Streets locations throughout the city.

My first thought on this is, What happens to the bicylists? Are they going to be riding around frolicing children?

(This idea seems very nice. I am not making a remark against children, frolicing or otherwise.)

Weren't the chidren "free" to play on these streets before this government program?

[frances]

I am going to ignore your snide description of play streets as a government program.

My old block in Brooklyn was a play street. It was an awesome resource. Ours was run by the PAL, and they brought games, balls, tables, and COUNSELORS (it might have been part of Summer Youth, I'm not sure.) They opened a hydrant, and kids LOVED it. I'm glad we're getting it here, kids need it.

The streets are obviously not going to be so densely packed that people can't bike on them.

[Shelby2]

I'm a bit confused by it as well. Kids have been playing on these blocks as part of Open Streets. I see that more resources will be available for the "play" part -- meaning toys and games will be provided. But I wonder what's going to happen to the shared streets. I already have observed some accidents waiting to happen, with bicyclists and people riding scooters way faster than 5 mph. Also sometimes car drivers move the barriers so that they can access their building's garage. I'm not sure if any of these blocks have garage entrances on them.

At first glance, it seems like a good idea, but I've been out on 34th Ave often enough to see how chaotic it already gets in the afternoons, and I hope this has been well thought out.