By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — City officials are looking to expand pedestrian malls — similar to those that ban traffic in Times Square and Herald Square — across the boroughs.
The Department of Transportation is looking to partner with neighborhood nonprofits to create the plazas, with a focus in Manhattan on East Side neighborhoods
"This program is a key part of the city's effort to ensure that all New Yorkers live within a 10-minute walk of quality open space," the DOT said in a statement.
"The city will prioritize sites that are in neighborhoods that lack open space, and will look to partner with community groups that commit to operate, maintain, and manage these spaces so they are vibrant pedestrian plazas."
A map on the DOT's Web site shows that all community board districts on the West Side and in Lower Manhattan have plaza projects underway.
The East Side, however, is lacking. Community Boards 6 and 8, covering Midtown East and the Upper East Side, are listed as having "neighborhoods that lack open space."
The community board districts that cover East and Central Harlem currently have no plaza projects, the map says.
The agency is holding information sessions across the city. Manhattan's meeting is Wednesday morning at 55 Water St., Ground Floor, BID Room B.
The deadline for nonprofit applications is June 30.
