Yes, OS is a mess. And advocating for change is a middle ground. Whose is in the middle? Not so many OS fans, is what I find sadly. Keep everything as is and in fact, give me more. Many of the 34th Ave residents are pleading for fewer hours, especially in the winter when they have to navigate the streets by foot, bikes, bus or vehicles and it's dangerous. But come hell or high water, others want the street closures untouched. Is this fair and/or advocating for change?
For those residents on 34th ave, the outrageous closure time of not 4-6 or 8 hours but 13 HOURS of barricades to move and it's truly a hardship. Saw a man with a WW2 hat last week gingerly moving the metal barriers at 76th street last week to get to his garage and saying how frustrated he is with the city not listening to the residents about OS here. Add onto that it's MORE than 13 hours with trash pickup and street cleaning and these residents are fed up!! 6:15/6:30 garbage cans moving is insult to injury and very noisy!
Voter turnout is so low here- I believe the last election was under 20%- that its a useless indicator of how the neighborhood feels about an issue, Open Streets or otherwise. Someone needs to do a fair and impartial assessment of the 34th OS and hopefully, it will not get litigious but it's certainly looking like it will go that way. The supporters of OS could compromise at any time...others are listening.
