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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Saskia Haegens, Organizer of Vanderbilt Avenue Open Streets
6:31:46
ยท
116 sec
Saskia Haegens, an organizer of the Vanderbilt Avenue Open Street in Brooklyn, testified to request full funding for the Open Streets program, asking for a commitment of $48 million over the next three years. They emphasized the program's benefits to public space, street safety, local businesses, and community reimagining of street use.
- Highlighted the unsustainability of relying on unpaid volunteer labor and nonprofit organizations to run the program
- Noted that decreased city funding has led to a shrinking and less equitable program
- Stressed the need for infrastructure investments to reduce labor and operating costs
- Called for funding to cover DOT staffing, support for community organizations, and fast-tracking of street improvement projects
Saskia Haegens
6:31:46
Thank you, chair Brooks Powers.
6:31:48
My name is Saskia Achens, and I'm one of the organizers of the Vanderbilt Avenue Open Street in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn.
6:31:54
I'm here to ask the city to fully fund the Open Streets program by committing $48,000,000 over the next three years.
6:32:01
We are hoping to start the sixth season of Vanderbilt OpenStreet in May.
6:32:05
This program has brought as much needed new public space, has made our streets safer, has supported our local businesses, and most of all, it has allowed our community to reimagine how we use our streets.
6:32:15
Countless surveys and petitions show the widespread support for open streets.
6:32:19
The council passed legislation to make the program permanent in '21, and last year, DOT amended the traffic rules to further formalize the program.
6:32:27
One key piece is missing though, and that is the money to pay for all of this.
6:32:31
Instead, the program relies on endless unpaid volunteer labor by organizers such as myself.
6:32:36
It relies on nonprofit community organizations scraping together money to run bare bones operations.
6:32:41
This is not sustainable.
6:32:44
Since pandemic financial support ended, the city has decreased the funding to community partners, and the consequences are that the program has shrunken in size and become less equitable.
6:32:53
Meanwhile, the Adams administration is touting the great safety, health, and economic benefits of OpenStreet.
6:32:59
Relying on provisional equipment and volunteer labor is not sustainable.
6:33:03
Long term, these great street improvements need to be implemented with infrastructure.
6:33:08
Infrastructure investments reduce the amount of labor required and thereby reduce the operating costs.
6:33:14
However, many of the promised street improvement projects and capital redesigns have stalled due to lack of staffing and resources at DOT.
6:33:21
Without new dedicated funding, the program won't survive.
6:33:25
We need 48,000,000 over the next three years to protect and expand the program.
6:33:29
This will cover staffing of DOT positions that support the OpenStreet's work, directly funding community organizations that operate OpenStreet's and fast tracking the implementation of street improvement projects and OpenStreet's corridors.
6:33:42
Thank you.