More pedestrian plazas in the works for NYC

The city is seeking proposals for an expansion of its Times and Herald Square pedestrian plazas across the city, yesterday asking community non-profit groups to submit ideas for neighborhoods including Murray Hill and the Upper East Side in Manhattan, Astoria, Queens and Borough Park, Brooklyn. The Lincoln Center area is also a likely candidate, with groups already plotting an expansion of Dante Park and an upgrade to the open space near Martin Luther King High School at West 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. This isn’t the first time the Department of Transportation has asked for such proposals, having approved 32 applications in a first-round process in 2008, but it is the first time the agency has sought proposals since Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced earlier this year that the trial plazas in Times Square and Herald Square would be there to stay. Groups have until June 30 to submit their proposals, and accepted plazas would be slated for construction by July 2012. [Post]