Bobby Feltault
6:40:44
Thank you to the chair and members of the committee.
6:40:46
My name is Bobby Feltholdt.
6:40:47
I'm a Queens resident and vice chair of the all volunteer thirty first Avenue Open Street Collective, which has operated the Open Street on 30 First Ave since 2020.
6:40:57
The Open Streets program has been transformative for New York as it's reimagined how we use our public space to serve local residents.
6:41:05
Incredibly grateful to the DOT city council and our elected officials for the support that enabled this, but I'm speaking before the council today because the support and the program at large is in jeopardy.
6:41:16
According to New York City open data, roughly fifty thousand people are injured in collisions with motor vehicles every year in this city.
6:41:24
This is not okay.
6:41:26
DOT reports show that open streets make our communities safer with notable drops and vehicle collisions where they've been implemented.
6:41:33
They are also making our neighborhoods quieter and cleaner.
6:41:38
They bring more customers to our local businesses, and they are a platform for providing programming and vital services close to home.
6:41:45
Most of these benefits have been possible thanks to the free labor from local volunteer groups, but this is not sustainable.
6:41:51
We are all running bare bones budgets today and often need to wait much longer than promised for reimbursements, which puts an undue burden on volunteers and individual donors who help make sure we can still pay our bills.
6:42:03
I, along with 17 representatives from volunteer run open streets, shared streets, and public plazas, call on the city to fully fund this program by allocating $48,000,000 over the next three years in capital resources and staffing so the DOT can complete more street improvement projects, which reduce the amount of labor and money required to run these services and a direct line item in the budget for the community groups on the ground so that we can make New York City a better and safer place for all.
