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Background

Lyman Place is a three-block street that has been closed to traffic in the summers for the past 34 years. The initiative was started by Hetty Fox, now seventy–three, when she moved back to the neighborhood in the Bronx where she had spent her childhood. Growing up there, she had learned to ride her bike on the block, and had played games and learned about conversation, confidence and respect. She wanted to give the same opportunity to current and future generations of kids.

It was not easy in the beginning. A vegetable garden in a vacant lot soon became a garbage-strewn lot, and funds for running a summer play street were always short. Initially the street stayed closed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. so parents could play with their children when they came home from work. During the last 11 years, police have directed that the closure cannot go beyond 5 p.m. in response to the crime and drug dealing in the greater neighborhood. Hetty Fox believes that keeping the street closed to traffic and allowing people to hang out actually discourages those kinds of activities.

Today the money situation remains difficult, Fox is dependent on grants and donations to fund supplies for the program. However, a second generation of children now run and play on the street–a testament to the need for such places in some of our most difficult neighborhoods.

Lessons Learned
Potential Benefits:

• Allows play to happen on the entire street.
• Creates a sense of real and perceived safety.
• Increases public space for children, families and the community.

Potential Issues:

• Address the lack of funding for organizing the play street.
• Work with police interference regarding activities and street closures.