Summer Streets

I wrote earlier about Mayor Bloomberg's desire to reclaim parts of Manhattan for pedestrians. Starting today, and for the next two Saturday mornings, almost seven miles of Manhattan's streets -- from the Brooklyn Bridge to the middle of Central Park will be closed to automotive traffic from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. as part of the "Summer Streets" program. The motto of "Summer Streets" is "Play. Run. Walk. Bike Breathe." The route runs up from City Hall, Lafayette to Fourth Avenue, then up Lexington, up Park Avenue after Grand Central Station, and finally across 72nd Street to the park.

According to the publicity materials for "Summer Streets":

This event takes a valuable public space - our City's streets - and opens them up to people to play, walk, bike, and breathe. Summer Streets provides more space for healthy recreation and is a part of NYC's greening initiative by encouraging New Yorkers to use more sustainable forms of transportation.

Modeled on other events from around the world including Bogotá, Colombia's Ciclovia, Paris, France's Paris Plage, and even New York's own Museum Mile, this event will be part bike tour, part block party, a great time for exercise, people watching, and just enjoying summer mornings.

There are three rest stops along the route, each of which has a full schedule of activities during the morning. It's a great idea, and I hope that some of you who are in town will be able to take advantage of it. Click here for a flyer about the event in PDF format.