Plan to rein in NY's street fairs prompts unexpected backlash

New York

THEY hold the promise of vibrancy, the allure of a city thoroughfare repurposed with the tent-lined look of a travelling circus. But the street fairs that can sometimes clog the corridors of Manhattan are also the bane of many, from drivers caught in the resulting snarl to those grown weary of the fairs' banal ubiquity.

Over the summer, the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio began studying ways to reduce the fairs' impact, and inject new interest into the often-similar affairs. In September, officials floated new rules that would limit the number of street fairs, spread them into more areas of New York City and require a greater diversity of offerings.