Making It Harder To Destroy and Walk In Times Square

There's an interesting article by David Dunlap in the NY Times about the recent barriers in front of Morgan Stanley's Times Square offices at 1585 Broadway. Now, the barriers were erected because of fears that certain bulidings (especially ones that move American moneys) would be terrorist targets. Dunlap determines that the obtrusive "41 dark gray, eight-foot-long concrete planter tubs and 16 cylindrical planters. At some places, the tubs are barely more than one foot apart" equal some 2000 cubic feet of concrete. The Department of Transportation has asked Morgan Stanley, which has a temporary permit, to make some changes. While Gothamist totally understands why Morgan Stanley or any organization would like to protect itself from terrorist attacks (the JCC on the Upper West Side has a perimeter of concrete on its corner), we look at the mammoth barriers as being almost as bad as the teeming packs of screaming teen and tween fans during the hey day of TRL. In other words, they are a bitch to walk around. And the streets of Times Square are already packed with tourists and vendors. At least with slow-moving packs of tourists that insist on walking five people wide, we have the dream that they aren't going to be there ten minutes later. Gothamist finds the pedestrian traffic in Times Square so sticky that we often walk in the street to avoid getting stuck in the scrum.
What are your strategies for navigating Times Square?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on September 23, 2004 10:28 AM

Comments [rss]

Thanks Jen

Jen, that was a very dignified and gracious reply to nobody's gratuitous and petty rant. Keep up the good work.

Cheryl Gladstone

Midblock Passageways are the hidden jewels of Times Square! You should check out the 44th-49th Street connection (between 6th and 7th Aves)...

B Fox

Forgot the URL sorry: http://www.vision42.org

B Fox

I'm not involved with this but spending time in the European countries car free walking districts it seems this would be an ideal solution. Make Times Square on big pedestrian mall.

Ben

> Nobody, thanks for your catches. I do try to

> read my posts before publishing, but things fall

> between the cracks, given other demands, like

> making sure the server is running and getting to

> my job on time.

Jen, don't change a thing. It's part of the charm of gothamist. Gothamist writes like New Yorkers walk and talk, which is wherever the most open path lies--sometimes that's at the light, sometimes not.

Tim N.

Jenny, I like your attitude. Replace the planters with tourist centers!

Max

L'Emmerdeur- wow- BOFR- blast from the past- what an excellent book. I will have to go brush up on my Samurai skills before tackling TS again.

King Hippo

Sidewalks? there are sidewalks in times square? If I find myself walking in the area I usually just haul ass in the street, just off the curb. Tourists are (rightfully) wary of walking slowly amid the onslaught of frenzied motorists, making it an ideal express lane for hurried (and alert) pedestrians.

L'Emmerdeur

Rush 'em,

Knock 'em down,

Leave 'em bloody

on the ground.

Or: read The Book of Five Rings. Learn how to focus your gaze on a point in the distance, then de-focus. This will give you a wide-angle perspective on activity, allowing you to see multiple threats (tourists, barriers) without focusing on any single threat. Your body will then naturally find a clear path through the chaos. Try this for a while, and you will wonder why you ever found Times Square annoying.

Nobody: this isn't the LA Times, you know.

Aatom

I walk from Port Authority to Rock Center every day, and I tend to enjoy the challenge of zigzagging through the throngs of bovine-esque onlookers. It's akin to playing a video game, really.

If I'm not in the mood, I take 8th Ave., which is the least offensive of the surrounding throughfares, and the late night crackhead/porn palace action is always amusing.

jenny

aren't the tourists enough of a barrier? why add to it? so a few people from Kansas die to save an entire building. so what?

Jen

Nobody, thanks for your catches. I do try to read my posts before publishing, but things fall between the cracks, given other demands, like making sure the server is running and getting to my job on time.

Times Square Lawyer

I work at the law firm in the Morgan Stanley building. Another reason for the planters on the sidewalk was the crowds from the double-decker buses and fake sunglasses vendors. The crowds from the lines of tourists waiting to board the buses were out of control and had snaked around the corner. Of course, the lines are still there, so nothing's changed.

mike c

The convenient walk to and from my office on 7th and 37th and my house in Hell's Kitchen is always an exercise in choosing the best of the worst situation.

Walking 9th Ave has the least amount of people but the most undesirable characters (drunks, crackheads), and you have to walk under the Port Authority overpass. Scary stuff, at times. 8th Ave requires walking past the front of PA (ugh!) and playing human Frogger as you avoid getting run over by the Garment District push carts. And 7th is just pure Times Square hell, but smells better than the other two options, and you do get to see some attractive foreign tourists.

mike

I avoid Times Square whenever possible, including the subway station (mainly 'coz I get lost in it!).

They should expand the sidewalks, and get rid of those stupid planters. This town is turning into a fortress.

Tim N.

Stuff like this reinforces my thought that things like these planters don't stop terrorists but do make it a little harder for New Yorkers to enjoy their city. Measures are vital, no one argues that. But when the powers that be aren't trying to keep us safe from Cat Stevens, they might want to get some input from the folks who live/work in the area.

nickel

Sadly, the popular wife-husband coffee/egg sandwich cart was booted from their ideal location in front of Morgan Stanley because of those humongous planters. They've been moving spots along that street, but business is not so good now, the wife said to me the other day. Last I saw them, they were packing up their cart in front of the W Hotel this morning, perhaps ordered to do so by a policeman standing nearby.

nickel

Sadly, the popular wife-husband coffee/egg sandwich cart was booted from their ideal location in front of Morgan Stanley because of those humongous planters. They've been moving spots along that street, but business is not so good now, the wife said to me the other day. Last I saw them, they were packing up their cart in front of the W Hotel this morning, perhaps ordered to do so by a policeman standing nearby.