Hello 5BBC members. We are seeking volunteers who can help at Summer Streets in 2024.

Summer Streets is the Club’s biggest volunteer event. As you probably know, Summer Streets is a multi-day, annual, car-free event. In Manhattan, it will take place on Park Avenue and surrounding streets between the Brooklyn Bridge and 125th Street. That’s around eight miles of streets that will be open to play, run, walk, and bike, and closed to cars. There will be free public art installations, performances, and activities along the route. (https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/summerstreets.shtml)

The 5BBC has had a decades-long relationship with this event. On each Summer Streets day, we will have a tent, repair bikes, and invite attendees to learn about the Club. In Manhattan, the 5BBC's tent will be on Park Ave. South at 25th-26th Streets.

This year, the Club will try to staff Summer Streets locations in the outer boroughs in addition to Manhattan. The Department of Transportation in 2023 expanded Summer Streets and we are going to try to cover those locations this year, though Manhattan will be our priority.

The dates for Manhattan are:

• Saturday, August 3
• Saturday, August 10
• Saturday, August 17

The dates for the outer boroughs are:

• Saturday, July 27: Queens and Staten Island. (Last year, Queens was on Vernon Blvd. between 44^th Drive and 30^th Road, and Staten Island’s was on Richmond Terrace between York Avenue and Bard Avenue.)
• Saturday, August 24: Brooklyn and the Bronx. (Last year, Brooklyn’s was on Eastern Parkway between Grand Army Plaza and Buffalo Ave., and the Bronx’s was on the Grand Concourse between Tremont Ave. and Mosholu Parkway.)

In addition, the DOT is expanding Summer Streets hours. Summer Streets will stay open until 3:00 pm. (Before this year, it closed at 1:00 pm.) Between the expanded hours and the new outer borough locations, we will need more volunteer hours this year than in the past.

We need volunteers who can do the following, preferably for about 4 hours or longer, on one or more Summer Streets days:

• pump tires;
• fix flats;
• fix minor chain, brake, or gear issues;
• manage repair lines;
• answer questions about commuting, where to bike, and the Club;
• explain how 5BBC rides work, including point-drop-sweep;
• encourage people to sign up for 5BBC ride updates and to become members; and
• have fun chatting about cycling with people enjoying a car-free day.

If you can volunteer, please email me at volunteer@5bbc.org and let me know:

• the day(s) you can volunteer;
• approximate time(s) you want to work;
• activity you can do; and
• if you are volunteering for July 27 or August 24, the borough for which you are volunteering.

Please include “Summer Streets” in your subject line.

In your email, let me know whether you can pump tires, fix flats, adjust brakes, or adjust gears and chains. If you can’t do mechanicals, your help as a 5BBC ambassador and in keeping lines organized will be appreciated.

 

And finally…. many thanks!

 

Eric