Photo via 24th precinct.
Amsterdam Avenue from 97th Street to 110th has been closed off to traffic on Saturdays for the last few weeks as part of the city’s open streets program to make it easier to visit local restaurants.
Now the program is expanding to Sundays too, according to the Columbus-Amsterdam Business Improvement District.
“After 3 Saturdays of successfully running Open Streets: Restaurants on Amsterdam Avenue from 97th – 110th St., we are pleased to announce that we are expanding the program to include Sundays from 12pm-9pm. Our small local restaurants have responded well to this program and are glad that they will have another day to expand their outdoor seating. Community members can now walk down the avenue, explore our neighborhood, and support local businesses throughout the weekend, while staying safe and maintaining social distancing.”
See a list of participating restaurants here. Happy Hot Hunan, which made a list of top takeout spots during the pandemic, is one of them.
I think it needs to expand further south to include restaurants in 80’s and 70’s Like a street fair
The additional day is one more the bike riders can not only use the one way bike lanes IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, but THE ENTIRE STREET IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, so that crossing is fraught with real danger whether it’s daylight hours or dark. I live on 98th street between Broadway and Amsterdam and crossing to the other side of the Avenue is more than ever . The bikers come from both directions randomly and now that they have the other 3 lanes of the street to do this in, and it’s extremely upsetting. I don’t like to walk on the West side of the Avenue because it’s closest to all the restaurants whose tables and chairs are set up causing us to have to wind our way through a big thrum of people Waiters and diners. Anywhere I try to go there are obstacles and people thoughtlessly livin’ large. I’ve nearly been hit twice, both times by bike riders coming from the direction I did not expect them to. Pedestrians have a hard time wending their way through these two kinds of impediments. WHO has thought about our needs?
It defies logic that people with this mindset choose to continue to live in New York City. Seriously, what is keeping you here if you feel unsafe walking by restaurants on Amsterdam? Nobody is holding you hostage, just move to LA and drive everywhere. You can leave the urban environment to people who enjoy “thoughtlessly livin’ large”, which apparently means merely existing in your airspace.
We’re not out of the woods yet.
I am sorry Susan,you have been scared. Speeding vehicles are a concern. We have 15 -20 foot Emergency and Bike lane down the center of the Avenue and have posted signs for 5MPH. Many Bikers have slowed down, it is shared by pedestrians walking, and people are looking out for each other. We have had Fire trucks, ambulances, police and other cars occasionally come through- thankfully it has worked. Last week a small group of young children played soccer and a few diners were more in danger of being interrupted by the retrieval of the ball.
Open Streets as an experiment has given the 30 restaurants in this stretch a taste of reprieve from this PAUSE. We are all working to keep it safe.
I will not have time to follow this or respond. Please wear a mask and keep your distance – it is important for us all and for overextended hospital workers. Thank you for your consideration.
I’m starting to wonder if many commenters here live in NYC at all. You do realize, I presume, that you are sharing this city with 8 million other people. Manhattan is also the most densely populated borough with over 71,000 residents per square mile. Perhaps it’s time to really let sink in that old adage we’ve all been taught since childhood: Look both ways before crossing the street.
Finally a sense of reality rather than the typical anger at anything positive happening in the hood. People need to relax!
Again – real problem for people who use the M7 and M11 buses.
Hard for some to walk to/from Broadway.
Safety concerns at night for people leaving work and heading home.
Many in NYCHA buildings depend on these buses.
Bus riders are 4th class citizens in NYC.
It’s 300 feet from Amsterdam to Broadway. It’s not a big deal.
. . . And you have four downs to make the 100 yards!
lol
Jay,
Not a problem for me – but definitely a problem for elderly, people with walkers, people who are not able-bodied.
And safety concern at night in the dark, coming home from a shift or leaving from work.
If you are healthy, have no elderly relatives, have not experienced this personally etc, it may be hard to understand. But it is real.
Those that cannot manage the 300 feet can use access-a-ride or car services. This is NYC; walking is part of the deal and those who can’t have many options.
It’s worth it to the vast majority of people to try and accommodate businesses so that the city is not empty once we get past the Covid issues.
I’m quite clear on how access-a-ride works. I’m not suggesting people use it to go 300 feet to then wait for a bus. You would use it to get to their final destination.
Tell you what, what do you believe is the maximum distance people should have to walk to get a bus? I’m not sure what your logic is actually. If the person can’t walk 100 feet, how do they get to amsterdam ave anyway?
Such a totally insensitive comment. You have no idea how AAR works do you? And you can’t book Uber to go 300 feet. Maybe seniors should all hop on a Revel. Good luck to those of you who believe your need to eat outside is more important than safe transportation.
It’s sad that such an obvious “detail” is lost on some people.
Most of us do continue to age and as we do we will value the ability of buses, cabs, and cars to get us close to our doors and destinations.
A friend of ours with Parkinson’s needs several minutes to walk 300 feet uphill to Broadway from his building door. This isn’t rare, and the numbers of us in similar circumstances are only going to grow.
In this pandemic certain measures are necessary to save as many businesses as possible and we should all make adjustments from walking extra blocks to generous tipping, to not hogging scarce tables after eating.
But the inevitable move to make some changes permanent has to be resisted.
This is a waste of space nobody takes on walking play in the street very bad idea give it back to the cars and bikes.
The “open streets” were a novelty but don’t seem to have taken. I live on one, in the beginning people were out but now it’s use is more for delivery trucks than people. The one on 75th was abandoned with zero fanfare weeks ago.
I have ridden some In Chelsea, mid day, sunny, 80 degrees, adjacent to NYCHA and Michell Lamas that teem with families, and seen them completely unused.
Hopefully the Amsterdam Avenue experiment will succeed, it’s fundamentally different with hours and days timed to the specific purpose.
Disagree, they are not all the same. WEA has been very popular throughout and still gets used frequently by many.
I agree with “bad idea” none of these streets were ever used…Even from the beginning what a waste.
There are many more restaurants in the 80’s than there it seems not well thought out. You need to give these bushiness the same opportunity or do it every other week or every other day of the weekend
On Sundays it should also be done for the restaurants between 72nd street to 96th street on Amsterdam Avenue.
I would like to see the program extend up to 111th Street. The restaurants on that block would benefit greatly.
Why not below 97 street?
Please include restaurants below 96 street! It’s only fair for them as well… this program works.
I guess if the people who run the business improvement districts south of 97th street got on it they could probably establish something similar between Lincoln Center and 97th street either on Amsterdam or Columbus at least one day or maybe just a couple of evenings per week.
Congrats to the 97th St BID on getting this established – good for the restaurant owners, good for the restaurant employees and good for the neighborhood.
Wow I never knew that Amsterdam Avenue from 97th to 110th was such a restaurant row.
I thought this was a great idea to help this less popular stretch of Amsterdam. But there are several blocks in a row with no restaurants, and at least during lunch/brunch hours a couple different Saturdays just a few restaurants are using the space. Its hard to justify closing on two days for so many hours. Maybe just dinner time? Fewer blocks? Allowing non-restaurants to use the space, too? Lots of bodegas and housewares places could sell snacks and basics to people who wouldnt normally go inside.
So says an anti neighborhood SUV owner. It certainly must be so nice to be rich and take public space to park and drive your pointless conveyance. You only care about yourself, clearly. People are loving the street closures. Just go and see.
The city is dying.
We can all feel it.
It’s not our fault, none of ours, but it’s out of our control and we are angry. So we lash out at cars, bike riders, electric bike riders, closed streets, “safe streets”….
Maybe in a few years, the city will rise from its death bed, but there is no way to tell.
So far the best idea of the week has been from that guy who’s organizing people to pick up brooms (garbage pickers?) to clean their blocks. At least it’s something to do. And it breaks the isolation, the feeling that we are alone. After all, that’s why a lot of here are here, both on this site and in the city, not to feel alone.
This should expand to 57th Street come on folks let’s keep it real these businesses have until the first time that goes below a certain degree people like I want to sit out in the snow let everybody have a chance while they can