Gowanus Pushes For 'Open Street' To Expand Events Along Canal

BROOKLYN, NY — A new "Open Street" could be on its way to Gowanus just in time for summer.

The Gowanus Dredgers gained the support Wednesday of Community Board 6 in their quest to add the culdesac outside their Second Street boathouse to the city's Open Streets program, which lets local organizations close certain blocks to cars to allow more room for pedestrians, cyclists and other activities.

The community board joins a long list of organizations who support the idea, and say they would take advantage of the new open space.

"If Open Streets gets permitted we would be able to use the space for these cultural activities," Dredgers Board Member Owen Foote said at a committee meeting last month.

The Open Street — which still needs to be approved by the Department of Transportation — would be an added safety measure to activities already happening at the Second Street dead-end and add new space for events held at the boathouse and on the canal's shoreline, the Dredgers said.

Those who support the idea include a summer camp, dance companies, theater companies and other local groups who say they'd use the space. The Dredgers also plan to use it to expand seating for their own events, like a comedy night and poetry readings, Foote said.

Families also already use the culdesac to teach children how to ride bikes, play soccer or hit tennis balls, he added.

"There's a lot of little ad-hoc things happening in live traffic and we don’t want live traffic there," he said. "We’d rather have a barricade of some kind."

The barricade would be set up along the culdesac, though the Open Street will technically be mapped for the entire block up to Bond Street, he told the committee.

It would run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays with the possibility to expand into more days.

Community Board 6 voted unanimously to support the idea.