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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
NEW YORK CITY | ATTRACTIONS
Customers dine outdoors in New York City. JAMIE MCCARTHY/GETTY IMAGES
Back in Business City offers new outdoor attractions amid COVID-19 By Ana Connery
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EW YORK CITY HAS long been a home for
creatives to unleash their brightest ideas, and this year has shown that not even a global pandemic can quell that imaginative energy. That’s, in part, what drew California native Shannon Rudd to the area. An avid cyclist, Rudd was thrilled when the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) launched the Open Streets initiative in July, closing 100 miles of roads to traffic and giving pedestrians and cyclists more room to spread out safely. “It felt great to have places to go without worrying that
everybody would be on top of each other,” Rudd says. The Open Streets initiative made it possible for restaurants and retailers across all five boroughs to make use of previously unavailable outdoor space. Tables spilling over the sidewalks onto city streets was “a big win for the restaurant scene,” Rudd says. “Suddenly musicians start showing up, and it feels like you’re in Europe. It’s like a street party, except everyone is wearing masks and social distancing.” Some of the city’s widest promenades now feel like urban versions of Main Street, USA. From socially distanced yoga and Zumba classes to family bike rides and daily programming for kids, the organizers have
found ways to bring the community back together safely. “Opening up the streets has actually quadrupled the room, making social distancing easier,” says Jim Burke, one of the founding members of the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition in Queens. “Two weekends ago, we featured a Mexican dance troupe. Yesterday, we featured local artists. We’re reconnecting and strengthening friendships by creating these town squares. It offers a celebratory place to go after a dark time.” Also new on the scene: the NY Phil Bandwagon, a pickup truck that rolls through the five boroughs with musicians from the city’s prestigious New York Philharmonic orchestra. Now on hiatus until March 2021, it presented
