{"id":17077,"date":"2020-06-29T02:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T23:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/de-blasios-open-streets-rapidly-vanishing-causing-fights-among-neighbors\/"},"modified":"2020-06-29T02:19:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-28T23:19:00","slug":"de-blasios-open-streets-rapidly-vanishing-causing-fights-among-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-blasios-open-streets-rapidly-vanishing-causing-fights-among-neighbors\/","title":{"rendered":"#De Blasio\u2019s \u2018open streets\u2019 rapidly vanishing, causing fights among neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#De Blasio\u2019s \u2018open streets\u2019 rapidly vanishing, causing fights among neighbors<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s open season on the city\u2019s \u201copen streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drivers across town are brazenly tossing aside street-blocking barriers set up as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s plan to provide outdoor recreation space amid the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Frustrated New Yorkers told The Post they\u2019ve had to take enforcement of the street closures into their own hands as motorists flaunt the program \u2014 and that it has even sparked tug-of-wars between neighbors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the first week it was clear that some neighbors did not like the impediment of the open street barrier, so they would just take it down,\u201d Noel Hidalgo, of Williamsburg, said of the traffic clot on Berry Street between North 12th Street and Broadway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a war of attrition, to the point that yesterday the remaining twigs of one wooden blue barrier were pulverized by a driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Launched in mid-May, de Blasio\u2019s \u201cOpen Streets\u201d initiative has so far restricted motorists from about 67 miles of Big App<\/a>le roads, with the aim to close off 100 miles so residents can get fresh air while still social<\/a> distancing.<\/p>\n

While the \u201copen streets\u201d are in effect between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., motorists making deliveries or dropping people off are still allowed to drive through slowly, and utility, emergency and city service vehicles are OK, too.<\/p>\n

But despite the ban on unnecessary traffic, some drivers have been taking back the supposedly pedestrian-only plazas, and moving the wooden blue and metal NYPD blockades so they can get through, residents in multiple locations told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrivers get around the barricade, they just move it,\u201d said Larry Barbieri about a closure on East Seventh Street between Caton and Ditmas avenues in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Cars on East Seventh Street were spotted driving around barricades set up along intersections on Friday, including one that was smashed to bits.<\/p>\n

Barbieri, the owner of a landscaping business, said he didn\u2019t agree with the street closure in his neighborhood, arguing that it was unnecessary since playgrounds are open and that \u201cit screws up the traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Randy<\/img>
Randy Crisp and his children on Underhill avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.<\/span>Paul Martinka <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Cynthia King, the owner of a nearby dance studio, said she and other residents like the closure and have been putting the barriers back up when they\u2019re moved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep putting them back up,\u201d King said. \u201cI live on the block and I love the street closure\u2026 It\u2019s nice to have all the neighbors out and socializing more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am mostly a driver but I definitely prefer closed streets over access to the road,\u201d King added.<\/p>\n

A City Hall spokesman said enforcing the open streets is a collective responsibility, with the Department of Transportation, local NYPD precincts and community organizations all pitching in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of drivers respect the program,\u201d Mitch Schwartz said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDOT patrols the closures with in-person checks and social media monitoring, and they work with relevant agencies like the NYPD to fix issues as they arise.\u201d<\/p>\n

An NYPD spokeswoman said the department doesn\u2019t track the number of complaints for broken barriers but that, \u201cAs we become aware of broken or damaged barriers, we replace them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe barriers are checked on by community volunteers and partners, DOT personnel and NYPD officers from the local precinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some of the \u201copen streets\u201d have sparked bitter fights between neighbors, with some trying to enforce the closures and others rebelling against them.<\/p>\n

On Ascan Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, drivers were seen last week simply veering around the barrier and zipping down the block, which feeds into busy Queens Boulevard, for most of the day.<\/p>\n

Sometime in the afternoon, parents come to reestablish the metal barriers \u2014 then the tiffs begin, locals said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey make me explode!\u201d Carmine Polito, 67, said of a man playing football with his son next to the outdoor dining set-up at Portofino Restaurant, which he\u2019s owned and operated for 46 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say people are trying to eat dinner, can you play down the street or in the park? He say, \u2018So what?!\u2019 Looked at me like I\u2019m nuts! So I say, I\u2019m opening the barricade! \u201d Polito said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are supposed to have a cop here. There is no cop here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Arlind Belegu, a building superintendent on the block, said fights between parents who want their children to play in the open space and others on the block can get heated.<\/p>\n

\u201cA parent threatened my doorman,\u201d Belegu said. \u201cHis kid was playing on the steps and my doorman asked him to stop the parent said to my doorman, \u2018You touch my kid and I\u2019ll knock you out!’\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a dad in Crown Heights said it took just a day from when the block-long closure on Prospect Place between Brooklyn Avenue and New York Avenue launched for someone to move the barriers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/img>
A barrier at Chester street of Fort Hamilton Parkway in Kensington, Brooklyn<\/span>Paul Martinka <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI sent my kids out there when it opened. By the next day, we couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d said John Buckholz. \u201cBy the time the kids had gotten the barriers up one side of the block, someone had moved them aside on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckholz said he takes his kids to open streets in other neighborhoods so they can ride their bikes in the street. He faulted the city for failing to effectively communicate the purpose and rules of the program, and said the closure near his home was doomed from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was put up haphazardly and with little community notice,\u201d he said. \u201cDe Blasio didn\u2019t care about this or want to do it, and it shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The City Hall spokesman said: \u201cWe have more work to do, but we\u2019re committed to providing all New Yorkers with the breath of fresh air they deserve.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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“#De Blasio\u2019s \u2018open streets\u2019 rapidly vanishing, causing fights among neighbors” It\u2019s open season on the city\u2019s \u201copen streets.\u201d Drivers across town are brazenly tossing aside street-blocking barriers set up as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s plan to provide outdoor recreation space amid the coronavirus pandemic. Frustrated New Yorkers told The Post they\u2019ve had to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29053,29052],"class_list":["post-17077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-causing-fights-among-neighbors","tag-de-blasios-open-streets-rapidly-vanishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}