This goes out to a friend who recently told me that she wants to explore Williamsburg. This Saturday participate in the last Saturday of Williamsburg Walks, a 4-week experiment in closing Bedford Avenue to traffic from Metropolitan Avenue to North 9th Street.  A way to rethink public space, it’s also a way to experience the main drag of hipster Williamsburg.

I know that a group were trying to organize something like this in Park Slope. Hopefully that can happen next year. For now, read about Williamsburg’s experiment and maybe try to get over there.

This is a “green” event and it is very much in the spirit of the
Mayor’s PlaNYC initiative to make the city a more inviting and livable
place by 2030.

Williamsburg Walks built upon the concept of “streets as places.”
Not to be confused with a street fair or failed attempts to create
pedestrian malls, Williamsburg Walks is taking an already dynamic place
and opening it up to the community.

If you build more streets, you get more cars. If you build more
pedestrian-friendly areas, street furniture and bike lanes, you will
get more pedestrians, bikers and a social environment for the community.

If this four week experiment is a success, we hope to extend it and
consider the possibility that Bedford Avenue could be closed every
Saturday the same way Orchard Street has been closed on Sundays since
the 60s.

We are doing everything we can to ensure that this event is a
success. We want it to be remembered as a clean, safe and
well-organized event. We are trying to be inclusive and address the
needs, issues and concerns of the community. We want your feedback,
good or bad, and we hope to learn lessons each weekend and apply them
to the next.