Broadway Pedestrian Plaza Attracting Sedentary Homeless!

A group of remarkably well-dressed homeless sitting on Broadway, just like Mike Lupica said. Courtesy Ianqui's Flickr

Andrea Peyser isn't the only tabloid columnist with a deep disdain for the new car-free sections of Broadway; Mike Lupica at the Daily News is now pouring out the Haterade with an article dismissing what he calls "Bloomberg Beach" as "Bloomberg's revenge." In his eyes, the whole thing is just Bloomberg's petulant way of bending New York's traffic patterns to his will after his congestion pricing plan got sandbagged by Albany. Which, yeah, Bloomberg's a little prince who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way, but Lupica's determined to toss the baby out with the bath water.

Where Peyser had to talk to homeless people to find some negative reactions to the Broadway pedestrian plazas, Lupica goes straight to the cops: "'Let's call it a work in progress,' [the cop] said, as another street guy settled in for a nap in front of Starbucks. 'Either that, or comic relief.'" The problem, according to Lupica, is that the homeless are using the chairs during the day, thus making the pedestrian plazas look like "shelters." WTF, now there are homeless people sitting in Times Square!? You'd never see that when cars drove through there!

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By John Del Signore in News on June 8, 2009 1:28 PM

Comments [rss]

nycnewsjunkie

anyone read yesterdays post article about (SLIMES) times sq?

"Especially speaking of weekends, like Saturday and Sunday morning, it looks like a BOMB HIT," said Tim Tompkins, the president of Times Square Alliance, the group responsible for keeping the plazas clean.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06092009/news/regionalnews/its_slimes_square__173290.htm

Manitoba

I love Mike Lupica's show on WFMU. One of the best DJs!

Manitoba

I love Mike Lupica's show on WFMU. One of the best DJs!

TooTallJeff

I thought Lupica couldn't suck worse at anything more than sports journalism. But now we know, he sucks at social commentary as well! He probably lives in Connecticut and drives into the city at most once a week. If he drives himself at all.

lostwallet

I think the sit-ins are kind of cool, but ever since bedbugs have mad a return, I don't even sit on a subway bench! Scheeves me out!

sowhtifithppnsitwll

did i say i hate bloomie?

thefacts

Love it!

Homeless expropriating Diktator Sadik-Khan's pipe dream = Revenge of thefacts!

TooTallJeff

Only in Barack HUSSEIN Obama's Amerika! Right, thfacts? Do I get my Junior Limbaugh Fan Club membership card now? (comes with 2 free oxycotin)

Spirit of 76

Yeah, as the caption on the picture above says, they've just completely taken over. Right. You really should think about changing your display name from "thefacts" to "thejerk." Sorry, but those car-free blocks are here to stay. Too bad for you.

ribaldry

We all know that whatever engenders peace and joy in the world angers the right wing media.

I was there yesterday and it was a quite lovely experience, like hangin out in an Italian piazza. It was a very friendly atmosphere with people from all over the world mingling and smiling and chilling with each other. There were barely any homeless but last time I checked they were citizens of the USA. If you dont like the "stinky" homeless go live in the forest.

Trilby16

They put out comfortable seating! What else would you expect! Grand Central knows better than to have any seating upstairs. Same with Penn Station and the bus depot on 8th Ave. Homeless people sit where seating is provided.

Just my opinion, but I think the scale of lawn chairs in the middle of Broadway is slightly ridiculous. But hey, that's just me!

Quidnam

I think at this stage the scattershot lawn-chair approach is all about staking a physical and psychological claim to the space. Once they come out of the "trial period," presumably they will build a more traditional plaza design.

JacqueMehoff

I took the bus from Columbus circle to BPC Friday.

noticed far less congestion with the reroute at TS. traffic was flowing at a reasonable pace. since it was raining didn't see much people nor any chairs out.

dbc

Like many New Yorkers, I avoid Times Square. However, this past weekend I had family members visiting NY from Ireland for the first time and took them to Times Square on Saturday night. Our group of 4 (two native NYers, 2 Europeans) absolutely loved the new traffic pattern/lawn chair scheme. I didn't see any homeless people sitting in the chairs, but plenty of tourists -and- NYers. It was really easy to walk on both Broadway and 7th - the sidewalks weren't as jam packed as usual, since the pedestrian plazas handled the overflow. Great idea!

santijose

now that I know that about the homeless. maybe I can scare the tourist and sell them handy wipes.

JacqueMehoff

when did lupica turn into a douche?

is he gonna be a michael medved, now?

r1b2

Send them home.

breaknight

The chairs are temporary...this is a pilot program, do any of you know the meaning of that term? They are testing out how this affects traffic patterns, public response, etc. If it works, they'll make it permanent, i.e. pave over Broadway w/sidewalk, probably install grass, trees, benches, etc.

The lawnchairs won't be there forever...

I for one like the idea. And who cares if tourists use it? All the tourist bashing in the comment section gets a little old. You know how you can tell a recent hayseed transplant from Wisconsin? Listen to how vehemently he/she insults tourists. It's self hatred coming through, b/c they know 5 years ago they were one of them, and there is only a thin line separating their pretentious ass from the seething masses.