Columbus Avenue ‘Open Street’ Ends Sunday, 11/14; Here’s the Full Schedule
Columbus Open Street a few weeks ago.
By Carol Tannenhauser
Weren’t we just arguing about whether it made sense to turn a portion of Columbus Avenue (68th-77th Streets) into an “Open Street.” Actually, it was August 29th when the initiative started, and as promised, it is ending today, November 14th…with a bang!
Here’s a schedule of the day’s events.
Sunday, November 14
10AM to 2PM
Free Outdoor Workouts with Momentum Fitness
10AM | Kettlebells 101
10:30AM | Momentum MetCon
12:30PM | Circuits of Courage
1:30PM | Power HIIT
Columbus Ave between 71st and 72nd Streets
11AM to 12PM
Children’s Music with Katie Dwyer Music
Columbus Ave between 72nd and 73rd Streets
12PM to 4PM
Free Kids Soccer Class with SocRocNYC
Columbus Ave between 71st and 72nd Streets
12PM to 5PM
Live Music at Manny’s Bistro
12PM to 2PM | Guitarist Michael Potter
3PM to 5PM | Victor Neufeld Jazz Party
225 Columbus Ave, between 70th and 71st Streets
1PM to 5PM
Live Music with The Meetles
Columbus Ave between 73rd and 74th Streets
2PM to 3PM
Performing Arts Mosaic OPEN STAGE at Open Streets
Columbus Ave between 74th and 75th Streets
2:30PM to 5:30PM
A Very Merry Pawliday Pop-Up @ Papersource
with Animal Lighthouse Rescue, The Pupper Cup, and Pupper West Side
309 Columbus Ave, between 74th and 75th Streets
All Day Long
Chalk Art, Cornhole, Giant Jenga, and more!
Various locations along Columbus Ave between 68th and 77th Streets
So fun! We have loved the Open Street Sundays! Hope it continues next year!
I am often wrong about things and I thought Open Streets would be a pain in the ***. I WAS WRONG.
Lisa, kudos to you for allowing your opinion to change and not sticking to an idea no matter what.
Sunset the sheds and sunset open streets.
Very difficult for people who use the M7 and M11.
Mass transit needs to be the priority, particularly as in this instance, Central Park is just a block away and there are multiple small parks and playgrounds nearby.
Which restaurants are in Central Park again? The point is making the street a community place, not just a park. I’m willing to bet you didnt even take the bus on those days and not because it was too much of a pain.
Josh,
The bus rerouting was an inconvenience for my family, but a hardship for elderly, disabled etc.
Restaurants now have expanded sidewalk seating plus street sheds – not OK for private businesses to get even more free street space.
For folks who think OK to close Columbus, I imagine they’d feel differently if it impacted their grandparents
Do you know of any elderly who were actually inconvenienced, or are you just basing your argument on assumption? Because, honestly, your posts sound like your reasons are informed by your opinions rather than your opinions being informed by reason.
Open Streets was fantastic…Lets have it back for the entire spring/summer/fall of 2022 Such a great add to the neighborhood
I love the idea of organized, family friendly outdoors events on our avenues, and this itinerary takes the cake. If only all Open Streets closures were as high yield. Often, avenues are closed and there’s neither any restaurant station nor meaningful human activity. Two women sitting at tiny table in the middle of a massive avenue while everyone else has to go around is silly. As such, 2 issues with the program are: (1) No one is tracking utilization. Just because the street is open doesn’t mean it’s accomplishing anything by itself. (2) On Sun October 24, THREE major avenues on the UWS were closed simultaneously- Columbus, Amsterdam and Broadway. The 2 former for OS and the latter for a Street Fair. Closing 3 out of 6 major avenues poses a safety issue and should not have been allowed. But the OS program does not coordinate itself with other city programs. So that, if there’s a street fair 1 avenue over, they won’t necessarily cancel OS.
“I love the idea of organized, family friendly outdoors events on our avenues, and this itinerary takes the cake. …
Often, avenues are closed and there’s neither any restaurant station nor meaningful human activity.”
EXACTLY! The 103rd street “open street” is yet another poster child for the needlessness of this.
Close it for activities? Great.
Close it for crickets? Not so much.
Thank you for this very intelligent, logical post. If only everyone else here could be so reasonable and compromising.
I personally don’t really like Open Streets and don’t see the purpose. But there are those who do. So I am willing to figure out a way to make it work occasionally, especially when it is not just “open streets” but there are events around it like this weekend.
Unfortunately, many of the Open Streets proponents are stubborn and unwilling to negotiate or think about the common good. They want it their way, when and where they want it. Full stop.
Someone should be coordinating these (I think Helen Rosenthal’s office but not sure) to follow Esther’s suggestion that they are being run optimally, and that one Open Streets event doesn’t overlap with others nearby. This is a win-win and is fair for all.
I actually love open streets, but the ones nearest to us never seem to have anything going on. Not even two ladies sitting at a table. Usually it’s just an empty street that’s blocked off, with cars violating the barricades at random and thus even when we want to let our kids run free and have fun in the street while we walk somewhere, my wife won’t allow it. It’s really unfortunate because I do love the idea!
The Open Streets brought so much joy to the community. Thank you to the organizers and I hope these will start again soon. Maybe even do it on Saturday too. I live on Columbus Ave and nothing makes me happier than waking up to hear kids laughing and playing in the street instead of trucks barreling down the road and honking.
Not sure what the need for open space and closed streets on a major thoroughfare, 1 block from Central Park.
I loved it! went every sunday. I hope it comes back next year