By Gus Saltonstall
While the summer is nearing its end, that does not mean the Open Streets on the Upper West Side will be shuttering at the end of the month.
Here’s what to know about the Open Streets corridors in the neighborhood for the fall.
- Location: Columbus Avenue from West 68th to 77th streets.
- Hours: Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Full closure.
- Partner: Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District
The Columbus Avenue Open Street has been on a hiatus since June 23, but it will return every Sunday from September 15 to October 27. That’s a total of seven more Sundays this year where streets within the stretch will be blocked off to traffic for activities, outdoor dining, performances, and more.
- Location: Amsterdam Avenue from West 106th Street to Cathedral Parkway (110th Street).
- Hours: Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
- Full closure.
- Partner: Lenape Bloomingdale DMA and Columbus Amsterdam Business Improvement District
The Amsterdam Avenue Open Street will be continuing every Saturday and Sunday until mid-November. The Columbus Amsterdam Business Improvement District’s website currently has details for its Open Streets program through September.
The BID generally issues two months of activities for its Open Streets at a time, meaning that the September and October programming will be coming next.
Some of the featured activities include puppet making, music performances, yoga classes, and e-waste collection workshops.
Amsterdam Avenue Open Street II
- Location: Amsterdam Avenue from Cathedral Parkway (110th Street) to West 111th Street.
- Hours: Saturday and Sundays from 10 a.m. to midnight.
- Full closure.
- Partner: West 111th Street Block Association.
Most people assume that the West 110th to 111th streets section of the Open Streets is a continuation of the Columbus Amsterdam Business Improvement District’s programming, but the one-block stretch is actually overseen by the West 111th Street Block Association.
There are less details about the programming for this block, but the Open Street section is also expected to last through mid-October/early-November.
- Location: La Salle Street from Claremont Avenue to Broadway.
- Hours: Thursdays from 3:30 to 9 p.m.
- Type: Full closure.
- Partner: Morningside Area Alliance.
The La Salle Open Street, which is one block north of West 123rd Street, holds its programming on Thursday as opposed to the weekend.
The Open Street is run by the Morningside Area Alliance and it has programming scheduled through October 31. The final Thursday of the Open Street programming will be its popular annual Halloween Parade.
Other events planned for the fall include a potluck and cook off, a clothing swap, and thrift sales.
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Wow.
Not OK as buses get rerouted.
People need and are entitled to full bus access and service.
BTW due to the Columbia campus, the bus reroute spans 106-120th. That means people needing to get to/from the nursing home, the hospital can’t get a bus on Amsterdam.
And last year, Columbia closed the public access at 116th due to protests.
And sorry – but the 110-111th closure seems especially unfair as it benefits the restaurants that are situated there.
Restaurants in other places don’t get special treatment.
Who’d have ever thought that NYC would prioritize brunch and bicycles over mass transit?
Wish it was open all summer!
With all the parks they insist on this. And you wonder what causes congestion. Self inflected if you ask me. Was any voter ever asked to vote on whether we have these? Or have they just been imposed on us?
The point of our electing officials is to have them make decisions for all of us. You don’t get to vote on every action that’s taken.
I am aghast parents allow their babies
to crawl around on the filthy street.
Got to be loaded with dangerous bacteria
Maybe a notice should be sent to avoid
this
Will the BID be bringing back the Taste of the UWS event?
I hope pop up swap comes back! That was always a fun event and great to see old clothes and toys being recycled.
Excellent news! The open streets are a highlight of my family’s Sundays and judging by the hundreds of people who attend, I am not alone in thinking that.
This should really be expanded to Saturday at minimum or even get the pedestrian focused infrastructure that Broadway has around Union Square, Columbus being used as a three lane highway through the UWS is not in keeping with our neighborhood character.
Totally agree! Neighborhoods are for people, not for storing cars.
The UWS being a gated community should not be in keeping with the UWS character. No, the subway does not suffice. Taking away more traffic lanes does not help anything, unless you want to shut out access from elsewhere to the UWS. You know what other neighborhood got NYCDOT to change streets to keep people out, Howard Beach in Queens and we all know what happened there in 1986.
Gated communities don’t have multiple subway lines running through them. FYI $2.90 for the subway is a whole lot more accessible than a $30k car, hope that helps.
If $2.90 for the subway as accessible as you claim, then why is having to transfer from one subway line to another such a dating dealbreaker when looking for a partner? Why is living in another borough even along the same subway line or in NJ such a dating dealbreaker when looking for a partner? Why is Manhattan only such a huge dating criteria among people on dating apps? My point is, people telling others to simply take the train are often unwilling to walk in the mile of the shoes of those they are telling to take the train.
Well it was former City Council candidate Sara Lind who ran on an urbanist platform who called Soho a gated community and Soho has more subway lines serving it than the UWS. Even if a car is $30k, most people are paying monthly either leasing a car or buying out a car and that cost exists regardless if your whole life does not revolve around the gentrified NYC bubble.
If you are trying to say that like Soho we should build more housing so that people can afford to live here, then I have to admit I agree.
The stretch between 68th Street and 77th is a joke. Empty space without activities despite what BID would have you believe. A few tables set up on the street and a few corn hole games. That’s it. And why the NO PARKING signs put up along Columbus making parking illegal from May until October when there was no Open Streets in effect for July, August, and half of September? This is as big a joke as thinking the Dept. of Health was checking for rat infestations this summer in the 70’s between Amsterdam and CPW. There’s more vermin along the side streets than last summer and it was pretty bad last summer.
dont pedestrians have sidewalks already?
No those were taken by the restaurants.
No, there are e-bikes, throttle e-bikes and normal bikes on those sidewalks.
The frequency of bikes on the sidewalk is far less than kvetchers on the WSR would have you believe. Give it a rest.
And still guys on throttle e-bikes will manage to slam into pedestrians.
While the stores on the west side of Columbus in the 70s will prevent the “junk” sellers from hawking their wares. Ironically, those ostensibly illegal vendors are the only interesting part of the official/legal school yard Sunday market.
The Open Streets on upper Amsterdam is doing an outdoor movie.
No concerns that the noise will impact people who live there, their kids who need to sleep?
Funny, no one ever asks this question or has ‘concerns’ about the noise from daily car traffic. If you don’t attend it is easy to under appreciates how peaceful Columbus is during Open Streets without the constant honking not to mention the noticeable lack of exhaust fumes.
Daily car traffic is not as much of a problem as urbanists make it out to be. It is part of living in a big city just as much as a lot of other things that urbanists do not like or want to force people to tolerate.
UWS Dad,
We all know that different things things can be true at the same time.
We also know that it is untrue that “no one ever asks or .has concerns about…car traffic” right – because “no one” means 100%.
As an actual parent myself, I am definitely concerned about not having regular M7 and M11 bus service.
Buses are more important than more space so my dog can have a meet-up.
No
Just increases congestion and pollution. Buses and cars all rerouted for blocks.
If Columbus Ave Open Streets has been on hiatus since June 23, why was the M7 bus I was on rerouted to CPW last Sunday at noon?
Hi Carmella,
We reached out to MTA about the M7 re-route you mentioned. The re-routing was not related to our Open Streets. I’m not sure where on Columbus/CPW you experienced the re-route but here is a list of all M7 service changes this past weekend:
-Saturday, 8/17, 5-8pm = Marcus Garvey Day Parade
M7 Southbound = Detoured between 135 St – 116 St
-Sunday, 8/18, 7-10am = Americas 911 Motorcycle Ride
M7 Southbound = Detoured between 57 St – 42 St
-Sunday, 8/18, 8am – 8pm = 6 Av Summer Expo
M7 Northbound = Detoured between 34 St – 42 St
I hope this info was helpful.
I don’t get the purpose of it on the uws which is surrounded by two large and lovely parks (central and riverside). Take your kids to the park ! Having the buses rerouted is a massive inconvenience for elderly, special needs etc.
It’s an inconvenience to everyone and accomplishes nothing. If you want to take your kids outside, you have multiple parks to choose from – you don’t need to have them in the middle of the street. For what? To draw with chalk on the street? You can do that on a sidewalk by the Park. Other than that, it serves no purpose for anyone and it inconveniences most people. As many others here have mentioned, elderly and disabled people are very inconvenienced due to the bus route changes. People who would take the bus to get to particular restaurants and/or stores, cannot get to them so those businesses suffer. It does nothing to help pollution or congestion because it makes congestion worse on the other avenues and streets. The occasional closing for a street fair is more than enough. Take your kids to the park. If you want suburban living, move to the suburbs.
The absolute GALL to claim that removing cars to create a walkable urban environment is suburban living! Real up is down stuff over here.
Provided the NYPD keeps “bikes” off the sidewalks and enforces traffic laws, which the NYPD doesn’t, Columbus Ave. in the 70s and 80s is already quite walkable even with the cars on the avenue.
Removing cars would make us look like a suburban college campus, that is for sure.
Open Streets and Summer Streets create massive congestion and loss of time. Sidewalks are great and we are lucky to have them all over the city. NYC did just fine before these congestion creating inventions by using parks. There are two magnificent parks lining both sides of the UWS. If you want to get people onto buses why are you closing streets which clogs every other street in the area and forces drivers to go many blocks out of their way to arrive at their destination?