Street art & street life come together on new Troutman Open Street
Bushwick will have a new space for community gathering this summer, as Troutman Street joins the ranks of New York City’s Open Streets. Saturdays and Sundays from now until Halloween, this commercial corridor will come alive as a people-centered space for local nonprofits, music, arts, dance, and fun. We spoke with Pat Noecker, one of the organizers of the new Open Street, about his vision for the new space, how he hopes to impact his community, and the similarities between an Open Street and, believe it or not, an urban cemetery.
So tell me a little bit about organizing the Troutman Open Street.
There's a very small residential population on Troutman, from Irving to Saint Nick, so I went to our business neighbors KCBC -- I own Other People's Clothes with my wife and another partner -- and I was like "hey this would be the perfect street for Open Streets." And the goal was to have it going by Earth Day. So we went back and forth with the DOT for months, they came came out to our meetings, and DOT agreed that it would be an excellent location. Also because of the fact that it's an international destination for street art viewing and there's already sort of a built-in art walk scene happening there. So between that and the minimal residential presence, and then the really diverse array of people and businesses, all the parts were there for the DOT to make it a premier location for Earth Day and Open Streets in general.
The accessibility for handicapped people is super premium -- there's no impediments for someone in a wheelchair. And we feel like the Open Street is an homage to the Latino community that has existed there for so long, and the Black community that has existed there for so long. The new population of Bushwick is really diverse but regardless, we understand that we're doing this in honor of those who lived through the tougher decades.
Street art walks have become a popular way of engaging with Bushwick’s street life in recent years. Source: instagram.com/troutmanopenstreets
Was this your first foray into organizing a public space effort like this?
Having been a longtime musician and, you know, putting together so many bills and playing so many shows and what not, I have a pretty good angle on what it takes to have a good time and that that takes effort and creative thinking. Bushwick is the perfect place for such a thing and Troutman is an extension of the perfection that Bushwick offers.
I love thinking about an Open Street like any other public gathering that needs certain elements to be energetic and welcoming and communal. Was it other Open Streets across New York that inspired you to start one here?
Yeah, I mean, I grew up on the great plains of Nebraska. I love open space. So for me it's sort of like an instinctual extension of that which circulates in my being. But also a reflection of, yes, the other Open Streets and just how cool it feels to like walk down the middle of the street, and how good of a treatment it is for the anxiety that sometimes we all feel. Trying to cross the street or just, you know, existing with cars. Saturday and Sundays now on Troutman will be a reference to the human being and the fact that we need space to be happy. That's sort of my worldview about tenderness and empathy and giving people something, a platform, to be calm on. Anxiety just permeates the city on so many levels and I really feel like city government has the responsibility to treat mass anxiety in New York. Open Streets is a fantastic way to look at that problem and offer it to willing citizens as a solution.
What do you think you are most excited about when it comes to the Open Street?
I think just seeing people walking down the middle of the street. Not needing to worry about cars being in their way. For me personally, Open Streets make me feel like I'm walking down the gravel roads of Nebraska again.
What's been your biggest challenge so far in getting this off the ground?
With Carlos from the Queens Botanic Garden we planted fifteen of the tree pits on Troutman. And I showed my local HVAC guy my design for the tree pit frames and he put those in. It's an incredible improvement on the block but I think the biggest challenge is trying to inform the public — don't let your dog pee in these, pick up here, don't drive down the street while it's an Open Street. So that's the biggest thing, trying to get the public used to it. The public who wants to park on the street and drive their car. I understand, yeah, that maybe it's an inconvenience. I drive as well, but I believe the joy of an Open Street will offset any inconvenience from not being able to park on this two-block area for the weekend.
A huge goal is to beautify the place and turn it into something that clearly commands respect. A street is covered with hard stuff but that doesn't we can't introduce soft measures to allow people to enjoy it as a space of community. Streets are about more than supporting the industry of tires and cars and everything else that comes with that. But yeah, I think public messaging is always the biggest challenge.
New plants and guards went in on Troutman Street, the length of the Open Street. Source: instagram.com/troutmanopenstreets
Also, my son and I like to go for walks in the cemetery near Beacon Hill, in kind of this potters field right at the end of Central Avenue, the Catholic cemetery. And I think the city of New York has all these spaces that could be multi-purposed, like cemeteries. What a great place to walk around, what a place of peace, literally. And I can't speak for them but I tend to think that if dead people can think, they're pretty stoked that people are walking around having a nice walk around them in the cemetery. So there are lots of spaces that should also get a look from the city to be places we can take walks. I know that in Green-Wood Cemetery that's happening and I think it's a great thing because it's a beautiful natural space, a magical place. Cemeteries really already have that peace, so opening them up as a place where we can at least take a walk and enjoy fresh air and look at trees and pay respect to community is a good idea. Open Streets are a rougher version of that.
And historic cemeteries were built to welcome the living in to commune with nature. These ideas of public space have been percolating for so long and yet it feels as though we've gotten so far away from them that at this point, they seem so radical.
Even walking down the middle of the street -- that feels like walking out without clothes on when you're walking on the street. So it's radical in the most positive sense. I know that the DOT is really committed to it and I have to applaud the Department of Transportation and Kyle Gorman and his crew for being so persistent about making this happen for people. It's a great thing what the Department of Transportation is doing through Open Streets and I hope the city continues to staff them at a greater level and build the program to, you know, a world-renowned level because New York is an amazing city. I've been all over the world as a touring musician and there's not much that compares to New York. What better way than an Open Street to experience the collective vibration of what it is to be in New York?
We talked about this a little bit but would you say a bit more about what livability and livable streets mean to you?
Well part of the incentive for me is to be reciprocal with my community. The community supports my business. So what is it that we can do to really strengthen that relationship as business people? I think if there's anything that these hard-working business people forget is that they constantly need to think about what they can develop socially to say thank you to the community where they are. So I don't know if that speaks to what you just asked me, but I know for me it's an act of reciprocity to do something like Open Streets. Because it's not convenient, it's a lot of work to say 'hey this is the kind of world I want to live in' but I know that it also serves the purpose of deepening the relationship with the community that supports my business.
So it's really critical for business owners in Bushwick, because the density of businesses, like clubs and bars and all these places, is becoming really thick. And the trash is really thick. So what can we do — what programs or what ideas can we put into action to help combat the sort of downside of operating?
Every business makes trash. We're quite aware of it at our business but when you do things like put in tree pits and what not it sends a message that we all care what this looks like, we care what this feels like. So, you know, hopefully Open Streets will cause people to eventually feel like they have a good relationship with the street and with the community.
What else do you want people to know about the Open Street?
It happens every Saturday and Sunday until Halloween. There are volunteers who help, like the Clean Bushwick Initiative. Nicole and crew are volunteering to help us with trash and waste mitigation every weekend. It’s largely made up of people volunteering their time to turn Troutman into this special place.
We started a nonprofit to receive funding to help support what happens on Troutman Street and the surrounding areas. It's called the Bushwick Foundation for Artists and Merchants. We can solicit funding to our nonprofit to help support what happens on Troutman Open Streets. But really the larger goal for that is to be able to give an artist a $500 grant for, you know, an aspiring young DJ or somebody who wants to start a tamale stand. And then whoever donates that money we we want to put that donation in their name so it’s the “[donor’s name] $500 Scholarship for Promising Young DJs” or something.
Giving the nonprofits from the neighborhood a platform to operate on Saturday mornings through our Open Street is also a big part of the mission and then, you know, as we get our wheels greased and what not we'll have more consistent music, dance and performance on the street itself.
We want to thank Pat for talking to us, and for his hard work in the community creating safe public space on Troutman Street! We look forward to seeing the Open Street in action Saturdays and Sundays through October. See you out there!
Do you operate an Open Street in New York? Or know a public space manager who we should interview? Send me your suggestions at chelsea@openplans.org!