Where Will Williamsburg Walk This Year?

Photo via bitchcakes' flickr

Pedestrian plazas might be all the rage in midtown, but in Brooklyn one is causing nothing but trouble. Last year's Williamsburg Walks was terrorized by local skateboarding teens, and this year organizers of the temporary pedestrian plaza on Bedford Avenue are considering changing things around, following criticism from local merchants.

According to Courier-Life, business owners are claiming their sales suffer when the street is closed to cars and illegal vendors set up shop. Currently the Neighbors Allied for Good Growth community organization has suggested six closures to Bedford on Saturdays in June and July—but business owners claim that's too many. Spoonbill and Sugartown's owner Miles Bellamy is all for one car-free Saturday, but told the paper that the event hasn't been good for retailers because "there's so much going out on the street. No one wants to shop then."

For now, Williamsburg Walks coordinator Gregor Nemitz-Ziadie said he's been working towards making things run more smoothly for everyone involved, and encouraged the 94th Precinct to come down more aggressively on illegal street vendors. There's also talk of moving it to a different street in the neighborhood.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on March 23, 2010 4:05 PM

Comments [rss]

Brainwash

I wish they would block off Bedford Ave every weekend. I live nearby and it's great to have that activity going on. The shop owners just need to do a better job of promoting their businesses in the unusual traffic pattern, and the NYPD needs to chase off the illegal vendors.

thefacts

The Wrath of Sadik-Khan Shows No Mercy!

You think the Diktator of DOT gives a shit about small merchants and long-time residents, as long as she keeps her handlers at TransAlt happy and the newbie suburban hipsters appeased?

Why doesn't she try this nonsense on her precious little block in Greenwich Village?

Or is she afraid the well-organized Villlage activists will squash her autocratic plans, like what happened in nearby SoHo when she tried to do a similar scheme there last year?

No. She does it in other neighborhoods that are pushovers, not in her own backyard.

Sadik-Khan = Queen of the NIMBYs

othernel

Move it to Grand, that way you have awesome bars, restaurants, and spots for vendors, and it doesn't suspend B62 Bus service on Bedford like it did last year.

grizzzly

I don't think grand works due to it being a primary connection between industrial sections of queens and the bridge, though I agree that it'd be a fun spot.

dirty hipster

now that I think of it, Grand would be a better spot

buttface

bedford is the only "thoroughfare" in northside wburg. a car-free street on berry or driggs would just be a bunch of people hanging out on largely residential streets. how does that drive communal, economic stimulation?

wburg walks is in the right - they need the NYPD to enforce a ban on skateboarding/cycling on what are meant to be impromptu pedestrian plazas.

and yeah, just boot the illegals. incense is gross.