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#Video shows BK ‘open streets’ barriers being loaded into Amazon truck

#Video shows BK ‘open streets’ barriers being loaded into Amazon truck

Video shows a man loading barriers from the city’s “open streets” program into an Amazon delivery truck in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The footage from Monday night — posted on the Nextdoor app and republished by Streetsblog — shows a man decked out in red sweatpants, red sweatshirt and flip-flops loading the fences into the back of van emblazoned with the e-tail giant’s logo.

The man yells profanities at the person filming and hops in the driver’s seat before the clip ends.

The volunteer organizers of the “open streets” program on Russell Street and Driggs Avenue now say they are suspending their efforts with no barriers to keep the street cordoned off.

“On a beautiful spring day, when our streets could be filled w/ peace, we are suspending Driggs / Russell #openstreets because of theft – every single barrier,” the North Brooklyn Open Streets Community Coalition wrote in a statement posted on Twitter Tuesday morning.

“This is after weeks of vandalism & harassment,” the group wrote. “The @NYC_DOT is working w/ their agency partners to address the situation.”

The Driggs-Russell “open streets” have been closed to all but local cars since last May, when Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to add recreation space where people could bike, walk and play while maintaining safe social distance amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite proving popular in some neighborhoods, the program has attracted ire from drivers — many of whom simply plow right through the city’s erected barriers, which were initially made of wood.

An Amazon Prime delivery truck.
A man with an Amazon van allegedly stole all of the “open streets” barricades from a street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Getty Images

Fights between drivers and “open streets” supporters in Greenpoint were not uncommon in the early days of the program, as The Post reported last summer.

Those fights have taken on a heightened intensity in the area since the launch earlier this year of an anti-“open streets” Instagram account called @greeenpoint.natives. The account is replete with images of the streets on cloudy days with pedestrians or cyclists nowhere to be seen.

An NYPD rep confirmed reports of an unknown man removing three metal barriers from the strip before driving off. No arrests have been made.

A rep for Amazon said the company is “looking into” the incident.

City Hall did not immediately return a request for comment.

Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy

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