Prospect Heights Street To Open For Outdoor Dining
PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Five blocks on Vanderbilt Avenue will be closed to cars on the weekends so that restaurants can expand into the streets, the mayor announced.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that 15 new locations would be added to the city's Open Streets and Open Restaurants program, which closes certain roads to cars to allow more room for outdoor dining.
Vanderbilt Avenue between Park Place and Pacific Street is among the new additions.
"New Yorkers deserve more public space in our ongoing fight against COVID-19, and we're proud to offer more places to get a safe outdoor meal on the weekends," said de Blasio. "With two extra months of outdoor dining now approved, restaurants will have more chances than ever to get back on their feet."
The car-free area will allow restaurants to operate with more outdoor space from Friday through Sunday, and then switch back to regular seating options for the workweek.
A similar set-up is already in place on Park Slope's Fifth Avenue.
Friday's announcement also included two stretches of new open streets in Sunset Park and Brooklyn Heights. In Brooklyn Heights, Montague Street will open from Clinton Street to Pierrepont Place and in Sunset Park, Fifth Avenue will be closed to cars from 45th to 47th streets.
The recently added outdoor dining locations bring the citywide total to 62 participating streets.
The hours of operation for this new expanded seating option for restaurants will be from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday nights, and noon to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, de Blasio said.
This article originally appeared on the Prospect Heights-Crown Heights Patch
