This article was originally published in the Central Queens Micromobility Blog.

This post is a reflection of the first Austin Day held this past weekend on September 14th. For the first time, Neighbors for A Safer Austin Street secured a permit allowing for a temporary street closure on Austin Street between 71st Avenue and 71st Road. Since the group’s inception in 2022, its goal has been to bring long-overdue pedestrian safety improvements to the commercial strip. Local Community Board 6’s transportation committee passed a resolution asking for NYC DOT to initiate a study, and council member Schulman also penned a letter asking for the same.

In the months and years that followed, NYC DOT under the Adams administration has yet to start the safety study. At the same time, the local Forest Hills chamber of commerce was busy leading a misinformation campaign against the proposal, charging that NASAS were outsiders and demanding to shut down the entire street and wreak havoc on the businesses. Whether the CoC was at work behind the scenes or the Adams administration was busy with its share of controversy (McGuinness Blvd, massive city budget cuts, and ties to the Turkish government leading to personal legal troubles, which were alleviated by President Trump), nothing significant happened. Many members of NASAS began to feel dispirited; it was apparent that too many barriers exist for a normal person to make any meaningful change in their communities. Perhaps this is by design.

Well, fast forward to last weekend, and you can see how wrong all the naysayers were. In the 5 years since I’ve lived in this neighborhood, these mere 6 hours felt momentarily like standing in the great pedestrian streets of international cities like Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul, Turkiye, and Florida Street in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Before the event officially began, people took advantage of the police barricades during the setup period to walk directly in the center of Austin. The sun was out, but so were Forest Hills/Rego Park residents in their new, albeit temporary plaza. Food delivery workers on their loud mopeds and electric bicycles were largely well-behaved, slowing down and even dismounting to walk across the plaza.

Businesses like Tacombi and Shake Shack mentioned that they never expected such high activity on a Sunday afternoon. One would expect that all the people who flock to the street fairs would shop at the permanent businesses on Austin. Well, you may be surprised to learn that some businesses actually lose money. Many of the merchants imported by Clearview are not local to the community at all.

While I was stationed at the Continental Avenue barricades, I witnessed a phenomenon that reaffirmed my interest in street safety. On a ‘normal’ day, parents hold on to their child’s hand with a death grip when walking between the parked cars and buildings, and especially at crossings. Regardless of the findings of an expensive engineering study, Austin Street does not feel safe. Now here comes the good part. The moment an adult-child pair passed the police barricades and entered the center of the plaza, the death grip eased. I saw possibly a hundred children run freely into the enclave to play with their friends, ride their bikes, and do things that make children, well, children. It’s a similar experience when children run into a playground or a large park, only here there isn’t a huge fence. It is worth noting that we aren’t walking distance from FMCP, Forest Park, or Yellowstone Park. Nearby MacDonald Park doesn’t really provide the same experience to a child as it does to the many adults who play chess, tai chi, or sit in the shade. That’s perhaps because it’s next to one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in NYC.

As a society, we forget that playing in the street was something everyone did in the past century. What changed was that our streets were invaded by massive tons of steel, using the space as free or subsidized public storage and as a means to avoid congestion on bigger roads. This shift has pushed pedestrians to the periphery, fighting for the crumbs. Vulnerable road users, who include children and seniors, were getting killed or seriously injured. Concurrently, policy changes from the local to the national level put car company interests above societal interests by expanding highways and demolishing neighborhoods. Parents reacted to the shift by limiting the places their children could play. Combined with the loss of numerous free community spaces across the country, the result has been devastating for childhood. Isolation and loneliness are huge problems in American society and, I am convinced, contribute greatly to the rise in depression and anxiety.

It’s hard to overstate how many times we heard ‘when is the next one?’ over and over on Sunday. When we said the permit was only good for one Sunday of the entire year, people were disappointed. If this event taught us anything, it is that New Yorkers have an insatiable appetite for open streets and want more of them.

Critics will say that Austin Street is already safe and does not need any improvements. I disagree. I challenge these folks to talk to real parents who visited the pop-up plaza and ask how they felt at 9 am, 2 pm, and 6 pm. Bonus points if you also ask the children themselves.

If you attended the inaugural Austin Day, what did you think? What would you like to see next time? Can we count on you to speak at the following community board meeting on October 16th @ 7 pm to speak in support of more Austin Days? Visit Neighbors for A Safer Austin Street’s website to learn how to stay engaged and help the project advance.

Streetfilms came out and made a great montage. Enjoy!