Broadway Car Ban Panned By Post, Embraced by Others

The B-Roll's Flickr

The reviews are in on the new car-free Broadway's impact on the first day of business since traffic was diverted from the main stem between 47th and 42nd Streets and between 35th and 33rd Streets. Unsurprisingly, the Post has been breathlessly scaremongering in an attempt to milk the populist fear of change for all it's worth, with columnist Andrea Peyser leading the charge in an article headlined "Real NYers 'Malled' by Incredibly Dumb Idea":

Turning the Crossroads of the World from the vibrant, frenetic, center of the universe into a butt-littered suburban parking lot is an idea so ferociously dumb, it harks of other catastrophic decisions... Our mayor, who tried, and failed, to shove congestion pricing down our collective throat, has thrown the mother of all hissy fits. It's payback time. And New Yorkers—those who actually live here—must pay. As I wandered through Times Square, I was struck by how few people actually sat on the flimsy furniture that littered the streets like a going-out-of-business sale.

About those chairs: the tabloid finds that the Times Square Alliance purchased them from Pintchik Hardware in Brooklyn at a steep discount from the $15 retail price. (You know the Post must have been disappointed they weren't bought for thousands of dollars from some weaselly French retailer.) The temporary furniture will be replaced when the new pedestrian plazas are complete in August, but the article makes sure to cherry-pick derisive comments from local wits like hotel manager Nelson Hairry, who beheld the sedentary scene and wondered, "What is this, a lazy day? This encourages people to be lazy."

In yet a third take-down on the pedestrian plaza, the Post is surprised to find that rush hour traffic flowed smoothly down Seventh Avenue, with green lights lasting 20 percent longer. But at what cost!? Pat Bahnken, the president of Local 2507, which represents 3,000 EMTs and fire inspectors, is worried first responders won't be able to get to emergencies in Times Square anymore. (FDNY officials, however, have "requested access to the area in question and that is being provided to us.") And sagacious soda delivery man Jay White, who had to park his truck in one location in Herald Square and make several deliveries, is given the final word: "This is the worst thing Bloomberg has ever done. It's just too complicated."

On the other end of the spectrum, Streetsblog and William Neuman at the Times are both loving the new car-free zone, with the former blog declaring that "the symbolic value of this project is huge. New York City has banished motor vehicles from the Crossroads of the World." And Yesim Bilgic, 36, a Swedish novelist who occupied one of hundreds of lawn chairs set out in the center of Broadway, tells the Times, "This is like a sanctuary. It is chaos and you have your oasis in the middle of it. I love it." Typical lazy Swede!

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By John Del Signore in News on May 27, 2009 10:53 AM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

Enough of this stupid shit. Bring back the cars and trucks.

Real Shit

why in the name of Jesus would you want Trucks to fil that space?? your gonna get hit by one.

NannyState

Duh, to keep the cars from hitting me :)

Kevin Walsh

I haven't been there yet -- recovering at home still -- but this looks ridiculous. Calming traffic is one thing, but making Times Square a place for lawn chairs is embarrassing.

www.forgotten-ny.com

whitecastlerock

Amen brother-disgraceful...

Chilkin Bilskits

I really don't see what the big deal is. If you live in Times Square you're an asshole and if you have a car in Manhattan you're an asshole and if you're a tourist you're definitely an asshole. Seems like this only affects assholes... bfd.

farleft

Governor Paterson just pooped out a Chilkin Bilskits burger from his asshole.

etypical

Schfifty five?!

Rob T Firefly

/thread

farleft

Chuck D regarding the NY Post:

"America's oldest continuously published daily piece of bullshit"

MrManhattan

>>Pedestrian malls have been tried repeatedly in the United States and have failed nearly every time.

Maybe because they all drive? Here in Manhattan, only about 10% of households own cars, and I would bet that a similar percentage of hotel occupants arrive in a private car.

Driving a car in Manhattan is only for the super-rich the rest of us use the subway and our feet.

The Edge

Cars are only for the super rich?

Really?

JenChungsBaby

Duh, right? Where else are there more real pedestrians than here?

futomaki

I was on 37th and 7th before and walked up to Times Square to check out the new configuration. I think that what Sadik-Khan has accomplished is awesome. The space actually seems calmer. Traffic seems to be moving faster and the noise level is down. The thing that made me happiest to see was actual living and breathing New Yorkers working in the middle of the street in the lawn chairs! This city will always be filled with obnoxious people focusing on the negative. I'd rather listen to them than honking cars and trucks.

JacqueMehoff

I forgot, like Bryant park, put in free wifi.

Ed

I rarely agree with Andrea Peyser but this is an exception. Pedestrian malls have been tried repeatedly in the United States and have failed nearly every time. I'm not sure why. But this is not a new idea. Like many of the Bloomberg administration's ideas its a pretty old urban planning idea that already has a record of failure.

This works differently in the centers of European cities because the streets were laid out in the Middle Ages for people to walk around them on foot. I realize the streets of Midtown were planned in 1810, before the internal combustion engine. But even then there was alot of horse drawn traffic and they were all widened after cars became prevalent. If you create a pedestrian mall on these streets you create, essentially, a mall. People will get tired of it once the novelty fades.

My prediction isn't that Times Square will be abandoned like other pedestrian malls. I think it will turn into a Midtown version of the South Street Seaport, something that New Yorkers view as just for tourists. OK, that has happened already so probably this idea won't be too damaging.

Now what we could do is reverse the widening of the streets. That is something that would make the city more pedestrian friendly.

Spirit of 76

What I'd give to be thefact's dentist. He must be grinding his teeth to dust over how popular and successful this is. Bring on Summer Streets! Let's see if we can't get him to head for Jersey or LA, where the car remains king.

Ed

Holy crap, Times Sq looks like a refugee camp now. Never seen $15 lawn chairs in European town squares.

Real Shit

I LOVE THIS. This is the WAY times square should be. Laying around smoking pot. Enough of the working around with sweaty suit & a stick up your ass. Live right.