By Bobby Panza
Break out the sidewalk chalk and giant chess boards, Columbus Avenue Open Streets returns this Sunday, September 3, and continues every Sunday through October 29th. From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Columbus Avenue from West 68th to West 77th Streets will be closed to cars so people can cruise and use the avenue traffic-free.
Open Streets starts later this year, because the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District (BID), which sponsors the program, didn’t want it to conflict with the opening of the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center in May. “We wanted to give neighbors time to adjust to the new normal of Columbus Avenue,” a spokesperson for the BID emailed West Side Rag. This season, Open Streets will have more traffic guards, with two stationed at 79th Street to ensure the safety of pedestrians at that busy intersection and alleviate unnecessary honking.
“Open Streets was a game changer for us last summer,” said Martin Johnson, manager of 67 Gourmet, located at 194 Columbus Avenue between West 68th and 69th Streets. The small artisanal cheese shop opened in January, 2022 and, according to Johnson, “business is booming,” in part, because of Open Streets. It was there that 67 Gourmet introduced their “tasting table” outside the shop. Johnson calls it “cheese-shop outreach.” He currently recommends their Twig Farm Goat Tomme, a semi-soft cheese from Vermont, with gentle herbal overtones of sorrel and thyme and an earthy finish.
You can also listen to live music from the Victor Neufeld Band outside Manny’s Bistro at 225 Columbus Avenue between West 70th and 71st Streets. Neufeld, the former executive producer of “20/20” and “The Early Show” with over 20 Emmys to his name, is the lead singer of a musical ensemble known to attract special guests, including opera singer James Valenti and iconic actor (and local resident) Tony Danza, who’s a friend of Manny Colon, the bistro’s owner.
“Sundays are my favorite day of the week,” said Colon, who’s known to sing a few numbers himself. “Everybody is just so full of life. Open Streets creates something special in the neighborhood. Kids are playing in the street with no traffic, people are dancing, there are all kinds of festivities that are great for everybody.” Music will play outside Manny’s Bistro from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Here’s a quick look at what else is planned for Sunday and the rest of the season:
Sunday, September 3:
- Fire hydrant sprinkler – Columbus and 72nd Street
- Arts & crafts table at Paper Source (309 Columbus Avenue between W 74 and 75 treet) 12 p.m.
- Free samples and treats for sale at Nuts Factory (284 Columbus Avenue between W 73 and 74 Street)
- Eileen Fisher Renew Pop-in (341 Columbus Avenue between W 76 and 77 Street) from 12-4 p.m.
- Games, music, activities, and more throughout Open Streets
Later in the season:
- New York Circus Project Fall Cabaret – 9/17, 10/1,
- Shop Local Day – 10/15
- Pioneer Block Party – 10/22
- Halloween Dog Costume Parade/Contest – 10/29
The Columbus Avenue BID encourages members of the community to let them know how they want to use the space. Check out the website here. For performances, meetups, or tables for an organization, sign up to use Open Streets here.
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This open street on Sundays when the weather is nice during the warm season is something that is nice. Better than the myriad of street fairs run by Clearview Festival Productions that are the EXACT same thing all over the city. The problem is that some of the urbanists expect a block party to be something that occurs EVERY DAY and want to live a Peter Pan lifestyle in the city, the open streets in Queens for example are a disaster.
Excellent, so glad to see Open Streets coming back to Columbus!
I prefer to call it by it’s more accurate name of Closed Streets as it prevents the streets from being used for their main purpose.
Columbus is a block from Central Park and in this stretch there are the extra wide sidewalks near the AMNH plus the yard at the Anderson/Computer School building off has the market – isn’t that enough space for people to joyfully frolic?
Unlike the supporters of this, I and many like me am actually willing to compromise – having this one or two weekends is fine. But every weekend is too much. Dayenu.
Please join us UWS4Parking. We are a group of residents and workers who need our cars for work and family activities, but can not afford $800 garages. This is only part of the Transportation Alternative/DOT agenda. Our streets are being handed over to private companies for profit.
Lyft owns Citibike., car share companies and sheds in the street are all supported by CB7 and Mark Levine. Transportation Alternatives is a multimillion Lobby group that wants to eliminate personal car ownership without an investment in public transportion to leave or enter the city. They want a gated community for the rich and tourists.
We have always had our street fairs with no problem. I am, and have never been, a conservative!
This post is about our streets being open to people. Most of the time, our street space is given to car owners for free. It is not your inalienable right to store you private vehicle for free on public land. There are extensive public transit options within and beyond the city. If you own a personal vehicle, then yes, you should pay a market-driven price to store it live somewhere that comes with parking. It is not the government’s job to provide parking for you.
JE,
Very well written. Thank you!! Cars in NYC are increasingly a health issue for all. Let’s not forget the horrendous air quality just a few months ago from the smoke from the Canadian fires.
Our planet’s future, especially the health of our children and grandchildren, will need us to be thoughtful and adaptive to how we can change our habits and invent for the benefit of humanity.
Providing parking for the public stimulates commerce. Manhattan isn’t a self sufficient feudal manor. Urbanists say streets for people not cars as if cars are anthropomorphic beings, but people drive cars, people drive vans, people drive trucks.
A healthy, connected, vibrant neighborhood is one that prioritizes people — connection, ease of movement, local shops, opportunities for conversation — over cars. The benefits of a person-first neighborhood go beyond happiness, which is valuable on its own, and into measurable health outcomes for everyone. The Atlantic reported on this in their podcast series, How To Talk To People, Season 4, Episode 2: “The Infrastructure of Community.”
However, I acknowledge that I am very interested in how we can compromise to ensure that the disabled and the elderly are able to still use the buses that they need.
How do cars limit your abilities and opportunities for connection, ease of movement, local shopping, and conversing? I don’t think that was the essence of the Atlantic podcast.
If anything cars help people from different areas more easily make and maintain connections. But the crux of the issue is about gentrification and turning NYC into the set of sex and the city or an abercrombie and fitch catalog. They want NYC to be a luxury product where only the cool kids who can afford a neighborhood like the UWS at market rate prices are welcome and can take full advantage of what NYC has to offer.
It’s not every weekend? It hasn’t happened all summer. It brings more people to local businesses and gives everyone who lives on Columbus a welcome break from loud trucks and constant air pollution. It’s a win-win for the neighborhood. A few local conservatives who don’t own the street but feel entitled to say that it should continue to be dominated by cars 24/7 shouldn’t be able to stop it and call it a “compromise”.
Public owns the streets. Streets are made for cars and buses. Sidewalks are for pedestrians. Streets are not just “dominated by cars” , they are “dominated” by buses too which a lot of us use and rely upon.
A small group of people who likes a walk in the middle of the road should not disrupt pubic transportation.
Lol, so anyone who rides a bus gets total veto power over who/what gets to use the street and when? Thankfully our municipal government doesn’t work that way.
Local bus riders as a whole aren’t a group of people that will band together to fight changes and work to improve service. They don’t have veto power. If anything, this is what allows riders alliance to pretend to speak for all bus riders when they really don’t.
Streets have one function, sidewalks another. It isn’t rocket science.
No – not OK to close streets on bus routes forcing bus detours.
Bus riders – especially those with health/mobility issues – deserve full bus access
Mass transit should be the priority over brunch
This is a bit silly, buses are rerouted, there are several bus routes on the UWS and the subway of course continues to run unabated.
If keeping buses running quickly is the priority, why not close Columbus to private vehicles as 14th street has done?
That would be an unmitigated disaster. Businesses on 14th Street are suffering as we speak. Even then, there are a lot of bus operators that have started driving slower than they did before vision zero.
Suffering? You’re going to need to provide some facts to support that assertion. The bus is going way faster with no traffic on 14th street.
Obviously the businesses on Columbus love the Open Street or they wouldn’t be putting it on.
Bus speeds have increased due to all door boarding where one doesn’t have to dip a Metrocard or add coins at a farebox in the front of the bus or wait on long lines to do so. Dwell times being reduced with all door boarding and curbside fare collection and OMNY enabling all door boarding are a MAJOR part of faster bus speeds.
Yes those are great too & surely helping speed up bus times. Try riding the M7/M11 buses up and down Amsterdam and Columbus, they get constantly stuck in traffic.
I ride them. You can get faster bus service without pushing an anti private car agenda.
The concept of Open Streets is lost on me. Why all of a sudden I should be ecstatic about being able to walk on the main road instead of a sidewalk for a few blocks? If I want to go for a stroll, we have 2 amazing parks. I understand it was beneficial to the restaurants during the pandemic, but nowadays people frequent restaurants as often as before. So what’s the point?
Less air pollution. Less loud cars and trucks. Joyful, family friendly activities. Space for kids to safely practice biking or scootering. More space for the huge crowds that come to the grand bazaar and farmers market every Sunday. More incentive for them to stay and shop/eat at other local businesses during their visit.
Have you not walked one block west to Amsterdam and broadway where all the cars are diverted ? What about the total gridlock down 77th by shake shack? The strip down Columbus is empty, it’s a waste of resources – all advocated by a lobbying group.
Incentive for Columbus Avenue restaurants. Killer for other local businesses.
People get apoplectic about wheeled vehicles invading the sidewalk where they want to walk safely. Yet somehow, it’s ok that people bike and scooter in the street when it’s closed to traffic and set aside for people to walk. SMH
Sidewalks are too narrow and crowded for multiple modes of transport. During the open street, pedestrians, bikes, scooters, rollerblades, etc. can coexist peacefully. You should check out the open street this weekend and see what it’s all about. It’s pretty hard not to enjoy it.
If Open Streets gets too crowded, then it’s not safe, relaxing, or beneficial to have multiple modes of transport in the same space…just like the sidewalks. If there are so few people that it’s sensible to have multiple modes, then closing the streets benefits too few people at the expense of many who would use that space otherwise.
JE –
No mention that the M7 and M11 buses run on Columbus?
I guess you don’t use the bus?
Central Park is a block away for strolling or for children to practice scootering.
I love the bus and use it all the time! Luckily the city re-routes it during open streets. If buses are your priority, then most of Columbus should always be closed to private vehicles to increase bus speeds.
JE –
To belabor this issue…
Re-routing does not help people with mobility issues, people using walkers or canes. They deserve full and reliable mass transit access.
Moreover it is bus frequency – actually the lack of buses that is the real issue.
As for speed, even when streets are empty, buses must stop at red lights and adhere to the speed limit.
Many bus operators are also afraid of speed cameras which are now 24/7 and the amount of increased scrutiny they’re facing because of vision zero. If we had OMNY + the streetscape the way it was before vision zero and before Bloomberg appointed Janette Sadik-Khan as DOT commissioner in 2007, we could accomplish faster bus speeds without spending too much on bus lanes, busways. Problem is that politically connected consultants, lobbyists and nonprofits wouldn’t get paid.
“ Joyful, family friendly activities. Space for kids to safely practice biking or scootering”
Really? Kids biking and scootering in the middle of the crowds? That’s what the parks are for.
For someone that needs to run errands and utilize the buses on the West Side, it’s a nightmare. Total congestion everywhere else. I absolutely hate the closed streets.
Sounds like the car traffic not the Open Street is the problem? The car traffic on the UWS is really abysmal – when the streets are open to pedestrians you realize how noisy and polluting the car traffic is. We should petition for congestion pricing zone to be expanded to the UWS as soon as possible to alleviate this scourge of traffic and allow the bus to run faster.
The congestion pricing zone in the 2000s was going to be south of 86th Street, opposition forced the zone south to 60th Street. Let’s also realize that car ownership in NYC went UP even before the pandemic while Ubers and Lyfts flooded the streets combined with vision zero.
Yes, the congestion spills over from Columbus Avenue to alternate routes. No fewer cars overall. No less pollution. Really bad idea.
It’s a great idea if the priority is making the UWS an enjoyable neighborhood! My family went every week last year and the Open Street was full of people enjoying the space.
If keeping buses running quickly is the priority, why not close Columbus to private vehicles as 14th street has done?
I wish the people that complain about this disrupting the bus system would complain about the things that actually disrupt the bus every single day – traffic and double parked cars. The UWS doesn’t have a single dedicated bus lane. The bus crawls along at walking speed. Focusing on open streets instead of parking and traffic makes the complaints feel disingenuous.
Josh,
Since we are all strangers here it is safe to say none of us know what others are working for and/or complaining about 🙂
But as a lifelong West Sider who does not drive, I am stunned that so many commenters don’t think reliable mass transit is essential.
Because the end goal is where the only people who have access to what Manhattan has to offer are primarily those that LIVE in Manhattan. Want to have a job in a white collar profession in Manhattan? Move to the UES, UWS or any of the socially acceptable Manhattan neighborhoods. Want to check out a Broadway Show, well those who live in Manhattan will be the only ones with halfway decent subway service or halfway decently priced ubers or lyfts as discounted Broadway show tickets don’t come with your “affordable” $3500 1 bed Brusco apartment on the UWS.
The UWS has a dedicated bus lane, on 81st between Columbus and Amsterdam that doesn’t speed up bus service at all. Might as well have kept that parking full time. Traffic is being induced by road redesigns and vision zero initiatives while uber and lyft flood the streets with their vehicles. You want cars banned in Manhattan while you get to have your cake and eat it too. Manhattan won’t be what it is without those who cannot afford to live on the UWS.
The 81st St lane is constantly filled with parked cars. The lane turns into parking on the weekend – people still need the bus on the weekend! People in my family work at the hospitals on the East Side and are forced to sit in traffic. We need those lanes to be 24/7 and physically separated so it’s impossible to park there.
I mean during the morning rush hour, 81st Street doesn’t have traffic that justifies that bus lane, whereas other places like 5th Avenue near Mount Sinai desperately need expanded bus lane hours. Your utopia consists of NO ONE being allowed to park on the street and that will be unrealistic unless you don’t want “outsiders” on the UWS at all.
Great for businesses on Columbus. Terrible for those on the cross streets, i.e. Malachy’s and other small shops and restaurants. Loss of traffic a little tragic, not to mention financially dangerous for operations still struggling from the pandemic.
Is the free swap going to be there? It’s soooo good, take what you want, donate anything.
“All I need are some tasty cheeses and a cool ballad and i’m fine.” -Spicoli
Golly what a lot of grinches. Enjoy the festivities. It’s just part of a day once a week. Try dancing down the middle
of “the yellow brick road” this Sunday. Have a taste of something new.
Bus and subway fares have gone up and Congestion Pricing is being implemented (in part to encourage mass transit use).
And yet there continues to be less bus service such as due to “Open Street” detours.
My family uses bus and subway – but know many who can only manage the bus.
Completely shocked how many commenters seem to think bus mass transit is unimportant.
They don’t care because they use citibike. Citibike has done more to divert people away from public transit than vision zero, road redesigns and even likely congestion pricing once it happens.
Another excuse for e-bike drivers and motorcycle drivers to ignore traffic laws.
This is stupid. It’s 9 blocks with a bunch of closed stores on it. It’s not going to ramp up business. And now they’re going to open a fire hydrant sprinkler every weekend in September when it’s practically jacket weather? Great. And of course it’ll be on Sundays, the same day all the random junk vendors line the sidewalk on the west side of Columbus Ave from about 77th to 71st anyway. Btw – why are those vendors allowed to sell their garbage en masse on the sidewalk?
Personally, I think closed streets are silly especially when parks are just steps away. But if it’s just on occasional Sundays then OK. When it was full-time during the pandemic, I missed chemotherapy appointments since I was not able to get a cab to come down my street.
I mean having the open street on occasional sundays especially with the farmers market and the bazaar not too far away and also all the unauthorized vendors out sundays is fine. What the problem is is the ban cars agenda which ultimately seeks to turn a neighborhood like the UWS into a defacto gated community.
All these ‘gated community’ comments completely ignore that the UWS is very easily accessible to all via the subway + buses that comes right through our neighborhood! Last I checked, Beverly Hills does not have mass transit…
It was UWS anti-car advocate and former city council candidate Sara Lind who referred to Soho (which is accessible by many more subway lines and bus routes than the UWS is) as a gated community. Sure the UWS has 5 subway lines, but those lines don’t meet everyone’s needs and many people even if they did use transit would have to make one or more transfers and in many cases its THOSE lines that help make the UWS even more out of reach. Let’s also face the reality that many of the neighborhoods within a one seat subway ride of the UWS have undergone or are being targeted for gentrification. Yes this includes Crown Heights and Flatbush and Washington Heights.
Does anybody give a thought to the residents of the buildings who are plagued by the music outside Manny’s Bistro? Manny’s has been advised that the music is terribly disruptive to the lives of his neighbors but yet the music plays on….glad it’s good for business, not.
Cars are banned but two-wheel vehicles are not. I’ve seen them flying around, which seems particularly dangerous around dusk when they’re hard to see.