The plan to make a stretch of Bedford Avenue a pedestrian-only street on four Saturdays in July and August is now “official.” Per an announcement over at Billburg:
It’s official! – July 19th, July 26th, August 2nd, and August 9th. Williamsburg Walks is a celebration of the Williamsburg community, centered around a pedestrian-only Bedford Avenue, occurring four Saturdays, from July 19th to August 9th, 2008.
Not a street festival or street fair, Williamsburg Walks is an experimental temporary pedestrian street closure intended to promote the enjoyment of Northside Brooklyn, both on Bedford Avenue and beyond, by encouraging the community to come together to shop, stroll, and socialize in an area unobstructed by traffic. Williamsburg Walks places emphasis on allowing the community to self-organize and enjoy the spaces they have at their disposal. These events will focus on community involvement, and feedback from each Williamsburg Walks weekend will influence subsequent events.
There is a similar happening in Brooklyn Heights but, oddly, nothing planned for Park Slope, for instance, on Fifth Avenue where a pedestrian closure would also make sense.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Lee // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:57 am
The problem with this is that Bedford Avenue is not just a “public” space but a private one as well. I have lived on this street for the past 20 years and the last 2 summers have been insane as far as the noise. This kind of thing just promotes the feeling of “anything goes.” This project was the mastermind of the guy who owns the cheese shop and he just sees it as a way to increase the “floorspace” of his shop to sell more goods.
I can’t even live in my house anymore because of the noise … but I can’t afford to move. It’s rediculous.
2 Steve // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:51 am
This is great. And the noise from people walking is NOTHING compared to traffic. Bedford Ave is completely public – public spaces can and should be regulated to ensure appropriate behavior – and using it for peds and bikes is much better than cars. Lee, you shouldn’t move because cars are banned from Bedford a few times this summer!
3 jose canusee // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:23 am
I totally agree. Bedford Ave is a circus on weekends with tourists and day trippers from all over. This may have been organized in good faith for neighborhood residents but I believe it will have the opposite effect and that traffic will spill over on nearby Berry St and Driggs Avenue spreading the noise.
4 Waaaaaah // Jun 23, 2008 at 12:08 pm
WAAAAH!! :*( ^
5 Jimbo // Jun 23, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Thank the zealots at Transportation Alternatives and their puppet at DOT, the hippie Commissioner, for this silliness.
They tried it in SoHo and got beat up.
So they sneaked it under the radar for Manhattan w/o community board input, and now this!!
Who runs this city? Nerds and hippies, or tax-paying voters?
6 Laid back // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Jeez they’re opening Bedford Avenue to pedestrians for 3 Saturdays, and the whole world is coming to an end.
It’s too noisy! The traffic will go on the other streets and make more noise! The city is run by nerds and hippies! We want our streets open to cars, but somehow also quiet and without traffic, and we don’t want our city officials to try anything new for even 3 Saturdays!
It sounds nice to me – I’ll be there to take a pleasant stroll. I wish they were doing that on my block.
7 Lee // Jul 1, 2008 at 9:05 am
Steve, yes, traffic creates a lot of noise, but people do, too. I know this, because the sound of people — not cars — keeps me up at night. And I know that the idea is to have the street pedestrian-only for a portion of the day, but as I said earlier, I believe it will just contribute to the feeling/idea that on Bedford Avenue, hey, anything goes … and that feeling will continue long after the cars return.
And I agree with what someone said about the traffic just being re-routed to other streets like Berry. It’s not getting rid of the cars! So there’s nothing “green” in this idea except the green the Bedford store owners see in the increased “floorspace” of Bedford Avenue. A commercial area, yes. But it’s also residential. It’s really crazy right now. Something’s gotta give.
One thing that would help is getting all the flea market people off of the street and into a REAL space. I actually think that will only happen when the developers of the condos for the rich realize that it has a negative impact on their potential clients.
And what about the guys selling bikes on the weekends? They’re too lazy to bring them all back to their garages, so they leave them chained up all week on the poles on Bedford — taking away legitimate spaces from people who use their bikes to commute. How green is that? (not to mention that one of those guys ripped off my friend by stripping her bike and using the parts for those bikes!!)