{"id":227075,"date":"2026-05-11T12:09:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/227075\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T12:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:09:34","slug":"mamdani-will-turn-50-school-streets-into-soccer-streets-during-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/227075\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani Will Turn 50 School Streets into ‘Soccer Streets’ During World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kids will certainly get a kick out of this.<\/p>\n

More than four dozen car-free school streets will be transformed into soccer fun zones, Mayor (and First Soccer Fan) Mamdani will announce later on Monday in The Bronx.<\/p>\n

The so-called \u201cSoccer Streets\u201d will comprise 50 \u201cpop-up activations\u201d by Street Lab for students to do soccer drills, play the world\u2019s game, make art, and do other World Cup-related activities to\u00a0celebrate that the\u00a0world\u2019s biggest sporting event will be contested in the New York area this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want every kid in this city to\u00a0experience\u00a0the joy of the game,\u201d\u00a0Mayor\u00a0Mamdani said in a statement.\u00a0\u201cSoccer Streets takes that energy directly\u00a0into\u00a0our neighborhoods\u00a0\u2014 closing streets to cars, opening them to\u00a0play\u00a0and making sure this\u00a0celebration\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0reserved\u00a0for\u00a0people who can afford a ticket. Open Streets is one of the best tools we have to reclaim public space for the public\u00a0and\u00a0these activations\u00a0are another step\u00a0toward\u00a0bringing the World Cup to our city\u2019s young people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The World Cup\u2019s eight games in the metro area<\/a> will be spread out from June 13 through the tournament\u2019s globally watched final on July 19, but the activations at schools will begin on May 1 and run only until June 26 \u2014 the last day of public schools.<\/p>\n

According to the Department of Transportation, there are currently about 68<\/a> school streets around town, though not all of them operate every day of the school week. Street Lab is already a partner at at least two of them, both in The Bronx.<\/p>\n

\"\"OK, not every school street completely banishes cars, as this playing field on Bathgate Avenue in The Bronx shows. Photo: Street Lab<\/p>\n

The school activations are part the Mamdani administration\u2019s effort to create events keyed to the World Cup. So far, the mayor\u00a0has announced five fan zones<\/a> \u2014 one per borough. But the administration also curtailed watch parties on other existing open streets<\/a> after \u201cfeedback\u201d from the NYPD. More open space events, perhaps on already car-free plazas, are expected to be announced soon.<\/p>\n

According to the mayor\u2019s announcement, the soccer activations are not automatic, but schools that already have car-free space under the Open Streets program are encouraged to \u201ccontact Street Lab to learn more and get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The non-profit Street Lab<\/a>, which runs all manner of activities in the city\u2019s greatest public resource \u2014 its streets \u2014 is certainly encouraging schools to take advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpen Streets for Schools hold a special promise for the future of the city,\u201d said\u00a0Leslie\u00a0Davol, Executive Director of Street Lab. \u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0seeing students, families, teachers, and neighbors, working side-by-side to transform streets into places to gather, bringing learning from out behind the walls, and inspiring the whole community.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a grassroots movement, rising from the ground up and from the boroughs in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The world\u2019s game one Bathgate Avenue in The Bronx. Photo: Street Lab<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kids will certainly get a kick out of this. More than four dozen car-free school streets will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-227075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}