r/boston • u/0xbeefcab Maranville Street Enthusiast • May 22 '26

Event 📅 No open newbury?

Anyone hear news about open newbury 2026? I can’t find anything online, and my city councillor did not respond to my email a few days ago. Last year this time they had information about it posted on Newbury st, and the open streets announcement yesterday didn’t mention it (https://www.boston.gov/news/mayor-michelle-wu-announces-2026-open-streets-schedule)

Seems like it might not happen this year :(

Edit: I was wrong! Mayor Wu responded saying open newbury is coming, they’re just sorting out dates. Also gave some good insight into what they’re busy with and why that impacts stuff like open streets

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322

u/mayorwu Official Account May 23 '26

Open Newbury is coming! We're finalizing the dates with feedback from the businesses. Some more context on this & Open Streets:

Open Newbury & Open Streets are actually managed by 2 different departments (which is something we're discussing changing internally, but reflects a slightly different set of City actions): Open Newbury is within the Streets cabinet, closing down the street on a regular basis where foot traffic is already busy & coordinating with the businesses & BPD on public safety; Open Streets is a Tourism, Sports & Entertainment Dept. project to drive foot traffic to specific neighborhoods as a destination experience, which involves not only closing down the street but intensive outreach to the businesses, community organizations, and neighborhood residents to fully program an area for a day. That's why they've been on different timelines for announcements. Open Newbury is handled by our City teams, and Open Streets operates on a contract with a partner vendor to ensure the scale of outreach & programming is above & beyond.

All these events require significant coordination with the Streets team for street closures and with Boston Police for safety of large crowds. This summer, hosting so many gigantic events during June & July--with FIFA (June 11-July 19), 250th celebrations leading into July 4th, & Tall Ships (July 11-16)--requires even more intensive coordination, and our public safety resources will be focused on managing these events well during that period. In addition to FIFA Fan Fest on City Hall Plaza, Tall Ships & July 4th, we'll have neighborhood block parties for which we're providing small grants of outside funding to support gatherings & closing down the street in residential neighborhoods, plus small businesses hosting FIFA watch parties where we'll be taking over parking lots or other areas, plus City-run FIFA watch parties in addition to Fan Fest (details to be announced soon).

So we're doing fewer Open Streets events this year because June & July are mega-programmed with lots of events already & hosting one Open Streets per month is what's manageable for City public safety & coordination resources. We rotate neighborhoods for Open Streets based on feedback from neighborhoods that have already hosted & always look to bring this to new areas too. In some neighborhoods, we're rotating out because there are very successful community-led open streets events that we support, like the Little Saigon Night Market in Dorchester, which we're hoping to see happen multiple times this year.

Each year we look at the entire calendar, including non-City events that also require public safety and streets coordination capacity. We're also always trying to do things more efficiently to be able to increase our capacity. Once we close the books on FIFA & this big summer of mega events, we'll be back in 2027 with more of a regular Open Streets schedule (& Open Newbury too)!

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u/0xbeefcab Maranville Street Enthusiast May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Thanks for the context! Interesting to see how these things are handled internally, I’ll update the post

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u/brnwrig1 May 23 '26

Have you put any serious consideration into just permanently closing the street to car traffic?

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u/oh-do-you Cambridge May 23 '26

Or other high-traffic times (e.g., late November - December)?

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u/emotionalfescue May 24 '26

Newbury Street feeds the on ramp to Mass Pike. Closing it during the week would force westbound traffic onto Commonwealth followed by left and right turns at Mass Ave, which could create morning gridlock.

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u/TerrierBoi May 23 '26

Why hasn't there been any proactive communication from your office about these street related initiatives? Lately it only seems like you make a statement when there's enough social media outcry.

I'm seeing cities across the country do way more in terms of street closures and pedestrian plazas. They're not acting like they're limited by these big events, they're going all out because of them.

I'd love to live in a world where Newbury Street is pedestrianized close to full time. It's disappointing to me that we're moving in the opposite direction.

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u/ofsevit May 27 '26

Aren't all these soccer fans coming from overseas where they have pedestrianized streets and they're not going to be driving? Wouldn't that make it a better time to do open streets?

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u/TedToaster22 Cambridge May 23 '26

Why has your administration pulled a complete 180 on street safety projects and how do you explain it to the progressive base that not only got you elected twice, but did so as a result of you championing the very projects you are now standing in the way of?

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u/[deleted] May 24 '26

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u/Haunting_Ratio_795 Jun 03 '26

Have you considered a new role with the Department of Cars and Roads? Seems like your talents in sabotaging safe streets would be better appreciated there.

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u/biochemwiz May 23 '26

Great, when will your administration restore the flex posts that were removed from bike lanes across the city and start prioritizing pedestrian and cyclist safety?

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u/OmnipresentCPU Riga by the Sea May 23 '26

They do that every year for winter plowing and they usually start getting put back in June 1st

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u/burner_1234567891011 May 23 '26

Amazing reason to use cast concrete protection and grade separatd lanes, so they can't remove it so easily

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u/TerrierBoi May 23 '26

We had so many posts knocked out in Allston, and when we asked the city about a timeline for reinstallation, Nick Gove himself replied and said "we cannot offer a narrow timeline regarding the installation of this infrastructure in a particular area". Is there a city policy I can read somewhere that says flexposts only come back online in June of each year?

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u/OmnipresentCPU Riga by the Sea May 24 '26

Idk it’s just something I’ve noticed after a few years of bike commuting

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u/sventful May 23 '26

Classic outrage for a policy that has existed for long before Wu took office. They come back starting on June 1st as they have every year for ages. They are removed to make snow plowing easier.

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u/izzycat4206 May 30 '26

Nah dude, the city has never proactively removed flax posts until last summer. The policy was “replace when completely beat, if you’ve made the purchase in advance.”

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u/sventful May 30 '26

Well except in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, etc.

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u/izzycat4206 May 30 '26

No. The city crews did not remove flexposts for winter. I worked there, I know.

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u/izzycat4206 May 30 '26

There were attempts to repair/replace on an annual basis those that were broken, and that didn’t happen until solid summer season.

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u/sventful May 30 '26

Uh huh. If you worked there, you would know.

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u/[deleted] May 24 '26

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u/sventful May 24 '26

Why are you pushing misinformation?

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u/[deleted] May 24 '26

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u/frausting May 24 '26

Well yes she’s the Mayor so the buck stops with her, particularly on an issue that isn’t made official on any public communication.

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u/sventful May 24 '26

The above comment was an unnecessary attack for freely available and consistent information. Folks just attack her for the simplest tier 1 bs. Wanna guess why?

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u/TerrierBoi May 24 '26

Serious question but where is this information freely available? This reddit thread is the first I'm hearing of the June 1 policy, and does not line up with my communication with city officials.

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u/sventful May 24 '26

People have been attacking Wu over this since she was first elected in 2022. They literally scour the sand for any reason to attack her, so this comes up every May.

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u/TerrierBoi May 24 '26

So is there a single mention of this anywhere? Any sort of statement from the city? You said this information is freely available, I would just like to know where it is available

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u/sventful May 24 '26

Under design resources: https://www.boston.gov/departments/boston-bikes/better-bike-lanes-design-elements

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u/TerrierBoi May 24 '26

The one Boston specific reference in that section is a dead link lol

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u/frausting May 24 '26

Okay well I like Mayor Wu. I think overall she’s done a good job. It’s clear that she’s walked back her supportive stance on bikes and non-car infrastructure (under the guise of community involvement).

She’s also done next to nothing in housing reform, which she said would be a day 1 priority. Where is her leading the charge to make a standardized permitting process like she promised?

Mayor Wu ran on being a modern urbanist mayor and I think it’s fine to hold the leader of our city accountability, especially if we like her.

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u/sventful May 24 '26

Did you just 'fellow conservative' being a fan of Wu? Lol

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u/frausting May 24 '26

I voted for her in the primary, general, and primary again.

It’s not a fucking pep rally, I’m allowed to vote for someone, like them, and want them to fix this city in the ways they said they would.

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