The money also gives the program four years of consistent funding from the city. Open Streets began with pandemic-era federal aid, but as that money ran out DOT<\/a> and volunteers who run individual open streets<\/a> scrambled to find ways to keep the program going.<\/p>\n In the final year of his administration, former Mayor Eric Adams gave $2.1 million<\/a> to the program, but left it to his successor to figure out how to keep the program going. The reliance on dwindling pandemic aid and the lack of a guaranteed funding baseline clearly weighed on DOT management, as one high-level agency official recently told the City Council that a secure annual baseline allows DOT to know what it\u2019s dealing with every year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re grateful that the funding is baselined so we\u2019re not going year-to-year anymore and not knowing what\u2019s coming up,\u201d DOT Deputy Commissioner Eric Beaton told the City Council Transportation Committee at a hearing last month. \u201cIt\u2019s an important investment for us to be able to plan.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani campaigned on fully funding and expanding<\/a> the open streets program during last year\u2019s mayoral election. <\/p>\n After Adams put DOT in the position of begging advocates to bail them out of a budget mess, the agency celebrated Mamdani\u2019s decision to give the program more funding.<\/p>\n \u201cOpen Streets across the five boroughs transform city blocks into vibrant destinations that enrich communities, expand educational opportunities for students, and support local businesses,\u201d said DOT spokesperson Will Livingston. \u201cThe Mamdani Administration is proud to champion this program that has fundamentally changed the way New Yorkers use our streets for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n But open streets advocates want the city to grow the program, not just sustain it, with $48 million over three years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an improvement from last year for sure, and good to see Mamdani administration doubling down on the program, but I think there\u2019s still a ways to go to sustainably expand the program to all corners of the five boroughs,\u201d said John Surico, chairperson of the 31st Avenue Open Street in Astoria.<\/p>\n At that hearing last month, DOT\u2019s Beaton said that no one who wants to run an open street is turned away for a lack of funding. Knowing how much money to expect every year allows for DOT to plan to use that money in a way that keeps the streets going, he said.<\/p>\n The city has sought to make it easier to run an open street by partnering with the Citizens Committee for New York on a grant program that allows organizers to get reimbursed faster<\/a> for open street-related expenses upfront as opposed to having to spend a season\u2019s worth of a budget and then wait for reimbursements.<\/p>\n But as the overall footprint of open streets has shrunk<\/a> over the years, organizers say they\u2019re the ones keeping the program alive \u2014 and that they need more help.<\/p>\n \u201cThe program isn\u2019t persisting because the city is investing in it, but because of the work volunteers around the city are doing to create vibrant car-free public spaces,\u201d said Alex Morano, who helps run the Vanderbilt Avenue open street in Prospect Heights. \u201cPeople may not be \u2018turned away\u2019 for funding reasons, but many people are unable to launch programs or are forced to scale back existing one because of very real funding constraints. New funding needs to translate into actual new resources for those of us organizing on the ground and be paired with a concerted effort from City Hall to make sure Open Streets expand and become a permanent part of city life.\u201d<\/p>\n Open street organizers also make an economic case for super-charging the program.<\/p>\n A Department of City Planning study in 2024<\/a> found that commercial strips with open streets had fewer commercial vacancies than those without the car-free setups, and a report released by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli earlier this year<\/a> found job growth on open streets was faster than on non-open street parts of the city.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re excited to see additional funding for Open Streets in the mayor\u2019s budget, but great public spaces don\u2019t magically manage themselves,\u201d said Jackson Chabot, the advocacy director of Open Plans, a group that shares a parent organization with Streetsblog. \u201cSustained investment in public space management is what turns a street closure into a thriving community space. \u2026 Expanding public space management can create good local jobs while helping our streets and sidewalks thrive in communities across New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n With an interest in keeping the pressure up, organizers from almost a dozen open streets sent a letter to the City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Committee asking committee members to push for three specific items during negotiations with the mayor:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/columbus-open-street-1.jpg\")
The Columbus Avenue: This is good for business.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/duggan-34-ave-open-street-2025-e1745610760130.jpg\")
The 34th Avenue open street in Jackson Heights is the city\u2019s gold standard for the pandemic-era car-free spaces. Photo: Kevin Duggan<\/p>\n