A year into Open Streets, Design Trust for Public Space, Regional Plan Association and Tri-State Transportation Campaign launch Alfresco Awards to celebrate the best outdoor dining spaces, best open streets, and celebrate street life across the five boroughs
Coalition will also launch series of recommendations for outdoor dining spaces to ensure small businesses have equal access as alfresco dining becomes a permanent fixture of NYC life
Awards come with a $500 prize; Nominate your favorite within the five boroughs here
NEW YORK, NY – As outdoor dining and open streets become permanent fixtures of civic life in post-pandemic New York City, a new coalition is launching Alfresco NYC. Led by Design Trust for Public Space, Regional Plan Association (RPA), and Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the initiative aims to develop design guidelines around outdoor structures, ensure they are achievable for small businesses and communities hit hard by the pandemic across the five boroughs, and to support and celebrate the diverse culinary scene across our city.
Kicking off the initiative is the Alfresco Awards, a competition for the best outdoor dining spaces and open streets across the five boroughs – which includes a $500 prize and free publicity. The application portal opens today - Wednesday, May 26 - and anyone can nominate a restaurant or community-based effort. A jury of experts, soon-to-be-announced, will select the winners in early July.
NYC’s Open Restaurant Program comprises more than 11,000 restaurants, including nearly 6,000 that have set up shop along 60 miles of car-free streets. While Open Restaurants is popular with New Yorkers, it tends to be concentrated in wealthier neighborhoods. Alfresco NYC is targeting small businesses and community efforts in all neighborhoods to support permanent programs.
“Today, we celebrate the ingenuity and perseverance of restaurants and communities across the five boroughs by supporting their financial goals as the city reopens,” said Tom Wright, President of Regional Plan Association. “That means permanently incorporating outdoor dining and open streets into our culture in a sustainable, equitable and accessible way,”
“We hope New Yorkers will nominate restaurants and community efforts that went above and beyond in areas like design, safety, sustainability, and community partnerships during the shutdown,” said Kate Slevin, Senior Vice President, State Programs and Advocacy, Regional Plan Association. “As our recovery continues, so will our work to immortalize this silver lining during an incredibly difficult time in our City’s history.”
“Open Streets and Open Restaurants have been integral programs to New York City’s rebounding economy, leveraging public space in support of small businesses and communities during an unprecedented time in our city,” said Matthew Clarke, Executive Director of Design Trust for Public Space. “Our next step together is to promote and share best practices to ensure ongoing sustainability, resiliency, and safety in these programs moving forward.”
“For years, our organizations have advocated for a better, safer, more logical approach to street design,” said Renae Reynolds, Executive Director of Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “From focusing on community, safety, accessibility, and equity comes livelier streets and improved economic outcomes. Open Streets is a proven model that is both economically successful and popular with the public. As we work to promote restaurants and businesses that partake, and uplift those who have done it best, we have to ensure that it is done equitably across all parts of the city. ”
“Watching our streets and small businesses come back to bustling, dynamic life after so many months is a wonderful experience,” said Arturo Garcia-Costas, Program Officer for the Environment, at the New York Community Trust, “Alfresco NYC will help ensure the historic expansion of outdoor dining ushered in by the pandemic is as safe, sustainable, and attractive as possible, especially as congestion pricing and other urban mobility policies transform our streetscape.”
“As New York City shut down, its streets opened up and helped restaurants survive the pandemic,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, Principal with Bloomberg Associates and an RPA board member. “The last year showed how much we need our streets, and we now have the opportunity to avoid restoring what wasn’t working before and to elevate streets to the way they should be—without the traffic, pollution and danger that held back the economy and divided communities.”
“Open Streets and Open Restaurants have shown New Yorkers the potential of our streets,” said Danny Harris, Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives. “More than simply a place to move and store cars, they are a pathway to opportunity and a vibrant space for community. By recognizing street life, Alfresco NYC celebrates what’s possible in NYC, and demands more across our remaining 6,000 miles of streets.”
“Our small businesses have shown so much ingenuity and resilience with their use of outdoor spaces during the pandemic, and New Yorkers have resoundingly shown their love for eating outside across all five boroughs,” said Samara Karasyk, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. ”As we emerge from this difficult time, we look forward to working with our partners in transit and business to maintain and build upon the vibrancy our restaurants bring to our streets and communities.”
“In the midst of an unprecedented crisis, Open Streets and Outdoor Dining provided a desperately needed outlet for the resourcefulness, creativity and resilience of small businesses,” said Katie Schwab, Practice Director at Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies and a member of the board of the Design Trust for Public Space. “In the process, these programs demonstrated the potential of re-imagined streetscapes across diverse neighborhoods, uniting New Yorkers in recovery efforts. I am delighted to participate in this effort to recognize the best of these projects and to help set the stage for a strong, healthy future.”
“Our city has more than 3 million free on-street parking spaces. Converting just 3% of this real estate into space for outdoor dining can lead to livelier and safer streets, more sustainable small businesses and a better quality of life for all New Yorkers, said Shabazz Stuart, Founder & CEO, Oonee. “As we begin to move past the pandemic, we have a historic opportunity to fundamentally rethink the utility of the curb while infusing our streets with smart, sustainable design practices.”
“The Open Restaurants Program helped save thousands of beloved restaurants and as many as one hundred thousand jobs, while enhancing and beautifying our city’s streetscape,” said Andrew Rigie, Executive Director, NYC Hospitality Alliance. “This program provided restaurants throughout the five boroughs the opportunity to design their own outdoor dining oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle, while serving as a true lifeline for the industry. Bravo to the Regional Plan Association, Design Trust for Public Space and Tri-State Transportation Campaign for launching the Alfresco Awards to recognize the ingenuity of our local restaurants that fed, inspired and transformed our city streets during our darkest days, and which will forever stand as reminder of the pivotal economic, social, and cultural role of these small businesses in New York City’s recovery and rebirth.”
The coalition will release an equity-driven guide for outdoor dining spaces later this summer. The guide will provide information to small businesses about the benefits of open streets and resources to design safe, sustainable outdoor structures.
Goals of the initiative include:
Equal Access so every neighborhood and every business can benefit and participate.
Streets for People underscoring the role that street life plays in the prosperity of communities.
Healthy Environments that promote safe, livable cities through streets free from traffic hazards, airborne illness like COVID-19 and chronic conditions associated with low physical activity.
Local and City-Wide Connectivity so streets are designed efficiently with rationalized approaches to parking and curb uses as well as greater connectivity across neighborhoods.
Sustainable Collaboration that supports continued partnership and ensures relevant information is shared equitably across the city.
The project is generously supported by the New York Community Trust.
About Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Tri-State Transportation Campaign is a 27-year old advocacy organization that fights for an equitable, safe, multi-modal transportation network that provides options and supports the economies of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. TSTC works to fix our commutes, meet our climate goals, stop traffic deaths, and make transportation fair. Learn more at www.tstc.org.
About Design Trust for Public Space
Design Trust for Public Space is a nationally recognized incubator that catalyzes change and transforms New York City’s shared civic spaces to create a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable city. Its innovative model brings together government agencies, community groups, and private-sector experts to deliver creative solutions that shape the city’s landscape with an eye towards social justice and equity, environmental sustainability, design excellence, and public engagement. Learn more at www.designtrust.org.
