NYC, Downtown Brooklyn merchants collaborate to make neighborhood friendlier to pedestrians, retail businesses

Block by block, downtown Brooklyn is turning into one of New York’s most pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.

As the city gradually crawls out of its pandemic lull, business groups and urban planners have hatched big plans to take street space from cars and give it to shoppers in what is one of the borough’s biggest shopping areas.

Some of that work has been completed over the last month thanks to a collaboration between the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership — a consortium of area business improvement districts — and the city Department of Transportation.

The block of Elm Place south of Fulton Mall has converted into a “shared street,” with portions of asphalt turned into an al fresco dining area for Fulton Hot Dog King, a neighborhood staple that’s been there since 1914. Planters and granite blocks help keep cars out — and street parking has been wiped away from one side of the street. (Theodore Parisienne/)

The city has made efforts in recent years to keep the flow of traffic in downtown Brooklyn on major arterial roads that lead to the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge.

Downtown Brooklyn Partnership president Regina Myer said it’s now time to shift that focus toward improving the pedestrian experience on the neighborhood’s side streets.

“There’s never been a sort of granular look at the streets of downtown Brooklyn,” said Myer. “There’s been so much transition in downtown Brooklyn with new construction and new stores and new uses.”

The block of Elm Place south of Fulton Mall has converted into a “shared street,” with portions of asphalt turned into an al fresco dining area for Fulton Hot Dog King, a neighborhood staple that’s been there since 1914.

Planters and granite blocks help keep cars out — and parking has been wiped away from one side of the street.

A corner on Bridge St. in Brooklyn. (Theodore Parisienne/)

The corner in front of the hot dog joint is also set to get a Citibin, a type of secured dumpster made by a company based at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Sanitation Department is testing out the new bins across the five boroughs in an effort to address street trash.

Similar treatments have also been rolled out on Hoyt St. between Fulton Mall and Schermerhorn St., and on Bridge St. between Fulton Mall and Willoughby St.

All of the areas are adorned with new technicolored street paintings, designed to brighten up the asphalt.

The work cost the Department of Transportation $219,871, with the business groups kicking in another $205,447. That’s peanuts compared to most street redesign efforts in the city.

The corner of Hoyt and Livingston Sts. in downtown Brooklyn. (Theodore Parisienne/)

The expansion follows the launch in 2019 of another shared street on Willoughby St. near the Jay St.-MetroTech subway station.

While only select areas in New York have well-funded business groups to help pay for and maintain street redesigns, DOT officials see the fast and cheap work done in downtown Brooklyn as a model that can be replicated elsewhere.

“The car-light designs of our shared streets are a great way to put pedestrians and cyclists front and center while still accommodating vehicular deliveries and emergency access needs,” said Transportation Department spokesman Vin Barone.

A new pedestrian-friendly area on Willoughby St. includes tables and chairs. (Theodore Parisienne/)

Myer acknowledged there are still plenty of problematic drivers in the area, especially those who use parking placards to illegally keep their cars on the streets.

But she’s looking at bigger plans to turn more street space over to pedestrians.

Her group has proposed converting 10 other areas into shared streets, including every block between Fulton Mall and Myrtle Ave., with the exception of Jay St. She said kicking cars out of the area has historical precedent: Fulton Mall’s narrow roadway has been dedicated to buses since the 1970s.

“This is a perfect spot and space where the city policy and business align,” said Myer. “This is an opportunity for us to really improve the streetscape. We really want to profoundly change downtown Brooklyn.”