
Mayor Bill de Blasio. Image credit: CityLand
The program will allow for outdoor dining until October 31st. As part of the City’s efforts to reopen and protect New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic, earlier this month the City announced an expansion of outdoor dining options in connection with the Open Streets program. (more…)

Rhinelander Avenue in Morris Park, Bronx, one of many streets open to pedestrians and cyclists under the Open Streets program. Image Credit: CityLand
The plan will aim to add 100 miles of open streets, widened sidewalks and protected bike lanes. Note: This article has been updated to continuously reflect the added streets as those announcements are made. Please continue to check back for further updates.
On April 27, 2020, the Mayor’s Office announced a plan along with Council Speaker Corey Johnson to implement street closures, sidewalk widening, and the addition of bike lanes as part of the City’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The plan aims to close off streets to cars to provide more space for social distancing for pedestrians and cyclists as the weather gets warmer and more people are expected to go outside. (more…)

Pedicabs on a Manhattan street. Credit: Molly Kaszuba
A pedicab driver refused to stop and dragged a Park Officer approximately 40-60 feet on his pedicab. On May 9, 2018, Bent Greenberg, a pedicab driver, was stopped by two Park officers for soliciting customers in a prohibited area outside Tavern on the Green, Central Park at 67th Street, Manhattan. Officer Moye approached Greenberg and asked for his identification papers. Greenberg told the officers he was leaving and began peddling. Officer Moye tried to stop Greenberg, but Greenberg accelerated in Officer Moye’s direction, nearly hit her, and fled. Officer Moye grabbed the metal bar on the back of the pedicab to stop Greenberg, but Greenberg continued pedaling. Officer Moye’s radio got tangled in the back wheel and she lost her footing, fell, and was dragged on the pavement for 40 to 60 feet until another Parks officer caught up and stopped Greenberg. The Parks officers served Greenberg with a summons, charging him with endangering another person and operating the pedicab in a reckless manner. (more…)

Governor Andrew Cuomo welcomes the United States Naval Hospital Ship Comfort to New York City Image Credit: Darren McGee
USNS Comfort and Billie Jean King Tennis Center to be utilized as Corona outbreak strains hospital system. On March 31. 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, Queens will be converted into a temporary hospital facility. The facility will hold up to 350 patients and will treat COVID non ICU patients beginning on April 7th, 2020. The conversion of this facility is intended to relieve some of the needs and overcrowding at the Elmhurst Hospital.
(more…)

Credit: CityLaw
Bike riding is enjoyable, healthy and fun. It can also be dangerous. The City is heavily invested in encouraging bike riding and bike safety. Yet, accidents happen, and when they do bike riders may opt to sue. Bike riders receive no special status as tort plaintiffs. Bike riders in court live by the same rules that govern tort claims by pedestrians and car drivers. As New York courts have repeatedly stated, a “bicyclist is required to use reasonable care for his or her own safety, to keep a reasonably vigilant lookout for vehicles, and to avoid placing himself or herself in a dangerous position.” (more…)