Bay Ridge’s 5th Ave. joins Weekend Walks fun

BID seeks to close streets to traffic on 2 nights

April 2, 2018 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue BID, which already hosts the highly successful Fifth Avenue Spring Festival, a street fair featuring live music, dancing and outdoor, is now planning to host one of the city Weekend Walks events. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas

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The idea of turning commercial thoroughfares into giant, car-free pedestrian plazas for a day has quickly caught on in several neighborhoods in New York City.

In Bay Ridge, a leading business organization is seeking to host its summertime happening and it looking for the city’s permission to temporarily close streets to vehicular traffic.

The Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District has filed an application with the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to take part in DOT’s Weekend Walks program this summer.

If the application is approved by DOT, Fifth Avenue will host Weekend Walks on Friday, July 27 and Friday, Aug. 17. The avenue would be closed to vehicular traffic from 73rd Street to 83rd Street from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. A pedestrian plaza would be set up to give people a chance to stroll along the avenue, dine in an outdoor café and enjoy the ambiance of a warm summer night in Brooklyn.

Weekend Walks are positive events that enhance the experience of life in New York, according to DOT. On the agency’s website, www.nyc.gov/dot, Weekend Walks are described as happenings that “create wonderful opportunities for New Yorkers to gather and see their neighborhoods in a new way.”

The idea behind Weekend Walks is to create “multiblock, multiday events on commercial corridors that promote the use of streets as public space,” according to DOT.

In most cases, business improvement districts, cultural organizations, merchants associations and community groups are the entities that apply to DOT for permits to host Weekend Walks event.

Community Board 10’s Traffic and Transportation Committee will discuss and vote on the Fifth Avenue BID application at its next meeting on Tuesday, April 10, at the board’s district office, 8119 Fifth Ave., at 7 p.m.

The community board does not have the final say on whether the application should be approved, but the city does give the board the opportunity to offer a recommendation.

Weekend Walks isn’t the only time visitors will have a good excuse to come to Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge.

The Fifth Avenue BID also sponsors a spring festival every June. The organization has filed an application with DOT to hold this year’s Fifth Avenue Spring Festival on Sunday, June 3. The street fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Bay Ridge Avenue (69th Street) to 85th Street.

In other Community Board 10 news, the Traffic and Transportation Committee will hear a presentation by DOT representatives on a plan to install traffic changes on Ninth Avenue and 63rd Street to increase safety at P.S. 69 at 6302 Ninth Ave. The presentation will take place at the April 10 meeting.

Board 10’s Police and Public Safety Committee will meet on Monday, April 9, in the district office at 7 p.m. to discuss several liquor license applications filed by local restaurant and bar owners.

The list includes: Mancini’s Woodfired Pizza, 8504 5th Ave.; Don Mario Rotisserie Chicken Inc., 7302 Third Ave.; Circles, 6931 Third Ave.; The Pearl Room, 8518-8520 Third Ave.; Lone Star Bar & Grill, 8703 Fifth Ave.; and Catrinas Mexican Grill, 7316 Third Ave.

The next meeting of the full community board is scheduled for Monday, April 16, at the Fort Hamilton Senior Center, 9941 Fort Hamilton Pkwy., at 7 p.m.

For more information, call the community board at 718-745-6827.