Freedom Drive, a short connecting road that cuts through Forest Park in Richmond Hill, officially opened back up to traffic on Jan. 5 after having been closed down the past five years for pedestrian and bicyclist use only. Late last year, Queens Community Board 9 held a public hearing and took a vote to determine whether or not to open the road year round, and ultimately settled on a compromise to keep it exclusively for pedestrian use during the warmer months from April to October, and closed the rest of the year for commuters.
However, some residents and park advocates weren’t satisfied, and wrote an open letter petitioning Mayor Zohran Mamdani, newly appointed NYC Parks Tricia Shimamura and others to forgo the board’s advisory vote and block the cars permanently after reports of illegal dumping and reckless driving returned.
“The timing of this opportunity to reverse the decision just couldn’t be better to do now. Two parks have reopened to vehicles at a time when we should be looking systematically across the system to see where we can eliminate and reduce or eliminate vehicles from our park,” said Kathy Park Price, director of policy and advocacy at New Yorkers for Parks (NY4P) and one of the letter’s authors.
Mamdani recently announced that the city would follow through on the original bike-lane redesign of McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, which had been changed at the behest of former Mayor Eric Adams’ Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin: allegedly because of a $2,500 bribe. NY4P says the opening of Freedom Drive and Silver Lake Park Road is another example of the previous administration’s lack of support for a more biking friendly and walkable city.
The roads were closed in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow nearby residents to adequately social distance while visiting the two parks. Once the pandemic was over, the roads remained closed and became a safe-haven for chalk-art, biking and other recreation. Richmond Hill local Andrew Smith, another author of the letter and founder of Safer Streets Richmond Hill, spoke at the public hearing in support of retaining the road closure after his petition garnered over 600 signatures, is now nearly at 1,000.
According to Smith, who lives just a block away, Freedom Dr. is once again ride with reckless driving and a hotspot for illegal dumping.
Currently, the road is missing paint to mark a crosswalk, and while NYC DOT has now placed two signs notifying the residents, Smith said he had to flag down neighbors walking in the middle of the street and alert them of its opening.
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“I’ve witnessed plenty of speeding, reckless driving and disregard for pedestrians crossing the road,” Smith said. “It’s a shame. I feel like we’re taking a step backwards from what was a really nice little stretch of open space that many people were enjoying… even during the winter ‘off-season.'”
As of Jan. 20, NYC DOT has not reported any traffic related collisions on the road. But the close proximity to PS 66, the Jaqueline Kennedy-Onassis elementary school just across the street, gave many pause during the initial hearing, including Principal Massiel Lenz and Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. Lenz attended the community board meeting with several of the parents and their children to advocate for keeping the road closed.
Addabbo said he’d never seen a principal attend a local board meeting in such fashion, giving weight to their testimony, and raising serious concerns that it “may be a matter of time” until a student or pedestrian is struck. Freedom Dr. is open to traffic for a majority of the school year, and Addabbo says he’d prefer the road be opened only on weekends to ensure the students’ safety.
Council Member Joann Ariola of District 32, which includes Forest Park but not the neighborhood of Richmond Hill, advocated for the road’s opening leading up to the community board vote and even published an Op-ed to show her support for commuters. Capt. Pratima Maldonado of the 102nd agreed and went on record stating it was necessary for public safety. Unlike Smith and Price, both of the local leaders were satisfied with the compromise.
“The notion that there was ‘little to no input’ from the surrounding communities is laughable” said Ariola. “The community board did extensive outreach, it was covered in local papers, and it was a topic of numerous local civic meetings. This is a compromise that meets the needs of everyone, not just the few all-or-nothing radicals who want to see cars completely removed from the streets in New York City.”
Price stated the compromise ultimately conceded the point to a minority of drivers and that “there isn’t a season when safety doesn’t matter.”
Smith, who owns a car himself and uses it frequently to shop for groceries or visit Rockaway Beach with his family, called Ariola’s language “abrasive” toward the nearly 1,000 people who signed the petition. After having met a representative during one community board meeting, Smith says he plans to reach out soon to discuss Freedom Dr.
“That’s not what we’re asking for at all. The majority of people I’ve talked to being a resident of this neighborhood… who overwhelmingly agree with me that this decision is a poorly made one done with little input,” Smith said. “We showed up en masse to that community board meeting with petitions, children, principals, PTA presidents… all saying that we wanted this street closed and don’t see the reason for opening it.”
The letter cites a previous statement from an NYC Parks spokesperson who stated that keeping Freedom Drive closed was an “overall benefit to the park and the neighborhood.” However, the department later stated that it would honor the board’s advisory vote and followed through with the decision. Though both Price and QNS have sent the letter, a NYC Parks representative stated it is still currently under review and has not offered a comment on the matter and Freedom Drive will remain open as per the board’s recommendation.
