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Members of Manhattan Community Board 1 applaud a presentation calling for an intersection study in their district

When you join your Community Board, you become a part of the conversations that shape your neighborhood. You don’t have to own property to be a Community Board member, you just need to live or work within the district.Your neighborhood needs diverse voices like yours! And unless you live in Staten Island, where you can actually apply all year, the deadline for you to apply to your Community Board is fast approaching.

• Brooklyn - applications open until February 19, 2024
• Bronx - applications open until March 1, 2024
• Manhattan - applications open until February 23, 2024
• Queens - applications open until February 16, 2024
• Staten Island - applications accepted year-round

Curious about how to apply to join your Community Boards? Why it’s important? Why it’s fun? Open Plans works with New Yorkers across the city to help them understand the process and potential. Contact Emily Chingay at emily@openplans.org, or reply to this email, and we’ll help you out!

Community Boards make a difference! The movement for universal daylighting continues to gain momentum, with seven boards, in three boroughs, representing over 1 million New Yorkers(!), passing resolutions to daylight the intersections in their district. By keeping the section of curb near an intersection free of cars, crossing the street becomes safer, more accessible, and simply more pleasant.

Learn more about daylighting

Spare the cost of a few cups of coffee in honor of your favorite plaza or open street, and we’ll send you a fun vinyl sticker sheet. Show some pride in your city by sticking one on your thermos, laptop, bike, or anywhere else!

All Public Space Awards attendees get one, or you can get yours with a $25+ donation.

Buy tickets OR donate

Join us for a festive night celebrating NYC's unmatched public spaces and the people who make them happen! From local heroes to citywide transformation, the Public Space Awards cheers on our neighbors who make the public realm a better place for everyone. 

Get tickets >

A new curb reform pilot is coming to a section of the Upper West Side. The neighborhood will be the first to go through this DOT-led process and it could be a way toward solving problems, both big and small, that impact every New Yorker. But in order for it to work, UWSers must listen to each other, work together, and consider their community as a whole.

Read more >

The latest Streetfilm goes to Paris to see the stunning street transformations that are possible when a city acts boldly and swiftly to implement safe, enriching, car-free spaces for schools.

Watch Streetfilm >

👑 Only one will be crowned the winner of our People's Choice poll for Public Space Activator. And you get to decide! Head on over here and cast your vote.

🍻 Join Open Plans, Transportation Alternatives, and Welcome to Chinatown Inc. Thursday February 8 from 6-8 PM for a casual meetup and happy hour, where you can learn more about community boards, what they are, what they do, and how you can get involved to make positive change in your community.

🚲 Applications are now open to request for bike parking and city benches for schools.

📋 DOT is asking for your input on what their strategic plan for New York City's streets should focus on. Fill out the short survey here and let them know you want livable, accessible, equitable streets! 

🗣 The Department of Environmental Protection, ironically, has released a new rule that allows drivers to idle for longer near NYC schools. Send in public comment by March 7th to tell DEP to protect our children and our climate by upholding - or strengthening! - our current air pollution controls.

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