#De Blasio announces more car-free streets for NYC outdoor dining

Four more streets will go car-free for open-air dining this weekend, bringing the citywide total to 89, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.

The new additions include a block each of Willis Avenue in the Bronx, Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side and Waverly Place in the Village, plus four blocks of Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.

The four new blocks will be in effect on weekends only, the city said.

As with other “open streets” locations, emergency vehicles and bicycles will be permitted to use the roadway.

Hizzoner also added three new no-car open streets for “social distanced recreation” — Barton Avenue in Flushing, West 45th Street in Midtown and Pleasant Avenue in East Harlem.

The program “has reimagined our urban landscape and drawn on our greatest resources: creativity and resilience,” de Blasio said in a statement.

Testifying before the city council on Wednesday, New York City Hospitality Alliance director Andrew Rigie praised city officials for bypassing the typical regulatory process to make it easier for restaurants to set up outside.

“For all the doom and gloom and all the challenges that this pandemic has brought upon our city and our restaurant industry, outdoor dining truly has been a bright light,” Rigie told council members.

“What we have seen through this crisis is that we are able to cut the red tape, get through this bureaucracy and create a more seamless and small business-friendly operating environment.”