For the second straight Saturday, Bedford Avenue became an inviting pedestrian plaza as its streets were closed to vehicle traffic from N. 9th Street to Metropolitan Avenue.
It was the second installment of “Williamsburg Walks,” a series of four consecutive Saturdays during which this Northside stretch is set aside for pedestrians from noon to 7 p.m.
As event organizers predicted, the event drew a much bigger crowd last Saturday than the previous Saturday.
One reason surely was the beautiful weather, which contrasted markedly with the heat advisory conditions the week before. But as event organizer Jason Jeffries pointed out, “people are really starting to ‘get it’” about an event he hopes will re-condition the way area residents think about their streets.
“This is re-imagining public space. It’s taking away the cars and letting the community take the streets back,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries and the other event organizers – who include Connie Colvin and Teresa Toro – were pleased by the proliferation of ad hoc activities that filled the street this past Saturday, such as paddleball games and live music performances outside of the bar Spike Hill (184-186 Bedford Avenue).
The spontaneous street activity was an improvement over last week, when people seemed to cling to the sidewalks.
“It’s a psychological thing – the whole notion of thinking about the street differently takes time. That’s why we’re doing it four weeks in a row,” Jeffries said said.
There were some four-legged pedestrians who availed themselves of the streets as well. NYC Pets, the Brooklyn-based pet shop chain that has a store on Bedford Avenue between N. 3rd and 4th streets, put out water bowls for dogs.
The participation of NYC Pets underscored one of the goals of Williamsburg Walks: to highlight local businesses.
“What’s wonderful [about Bedford Avenue] is that it’s mostly independently-owned businesses,” said Jeffries, himself a local business owner and purveyor of the Community website Billburg.com.
“We think it’s a step toward preserving the character of the neighborhood. We think it’s worth preserving rather than letting it become Chases and Duane Reades like so many streets in Manhattan,” he continued.
Other Williamsburg walkers this past Saturday included Borough President Marty Markowitz, Assemblymember Joseph Lentol and Councilmember Diana Reyna.
“There’s so much happening in Williamsburg – and the residents are so dynamic, mere sidewalks can’t contain them!” gushed Markowitz.
“The event is a welcome chance for walkers and cyclists to enjoy a quiet day without exhaust and automobile noise on one of Brooklyn’s most colorful and thriving thoroughfares,” he added.
Sounding a similar theme, Lentol praised the event as “a chance for fast-paced New Yorkers to slow down and enjoy a leisurely walk along Bedford Avenue.”
“It’s hard to imagine Bedford without car traffic, but I think it’s good to shake up the status quo once in a while and look at life from a different perspective,” he said.
Reyna said Williamsburg Walks “is a great opportunity to find out what happens when we free up street space for pedestrians. I want to encourage community members to come out and take advantage, and I hope we can build on this experiment to create more safe spaces like this in our community in the future.”
Williamsburg Walks will run for the next two Saturdays on August 2 and August 9, from noon to 7 p.m. For more information, go to billburg.com/walks/.
