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Is there room for a soapbox on this sidewalk? The latest complaint box on City Room is filled with street clutter grievances; as we know, newspaper condos and sidewalk dining are shrinking our already crowded sidewalks. The site posts a complaint from Julia F. Willkie, who resides on East 79th Street; she states: "What really upsets and infuriates me is how cluttered the streets, avenues and sidewalks have become. I live on the Upper East Side, west of Third and four blocks from Mayor Bloomberg’s residence. At the intersection of Third and 79th, three corners host 18 'honor boxes.' Between 77th and 79th on Third are an additional 13 boxes." Those pesky publications aren't all that's in the way, though, she also lists off phone booths, street vendors and newspaper stands as her personal public enemy #1. Finally she declares, "Good Heavens! My head tilts back so I can clear my vision, and street banner advertisements, approved by New York City’s tourism officials, are hanging from lampposts." Does Willkie need to move to greener pastures, or are our sidewalks becoming too much of an obstacle course?
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With folks on bikes, people texting while walking, tourists walking slow and people standing in the middle of the sidewalk to hold a conversation, yes, our sidewalks are becoming too much of an obstacle course.
but seriously, when you have 3.whatever million people living in one city, plus tourists, you have to expect there will be a lot of foot traffic. if you dont like it, leave manhattan (not that areas like williamsburg are any better...)!
For real? It can't that bad at 3rd & 79th... not that I'm a regular around there or anything, I'm just sayin'.
the whole "if you don't like it, then leave" thing is so goddamn stupid.
I have much more of a problem with the various people who don't know how to behave on the sidewalk than with boxes of newspapers. They are not as much in the way as the texters and the tourists walking 4 abreast.
I don't like it but I will NOT leave Manhattan. I was here first!
I saw a guy texting walk right into moving traffic yesterday. Nobody hit him, it was amazing.
The big problem with tourists is their tendency to stop suddenly on crowded sidewalks causing everyone behind them to practically fall over.
the whole "if you don't like it, then leave" thing is so goddamn stupid.
The real crowding issues are the aisles in Duane Reade. They're a disaster waiting to happen.
how about the damned suits who carry their stupid golf umbrellas in the rain? we have some of the widest sidewalks in the world; wide enough for an entire obese midwestern family to walk next to each other as though they are Revolutionary War soldiers. Yet, when it rains, every middle-management douche uses a patio-sized gold umbrella and clogs 1/2 of the sidewalk. IDIOTS! You don't need that much coverage from the rain!
AMEN!
Among Julia F. Willkie's personal Public Enemies #1, she lists phone booths? Really?? There are only around half a dozen of those left in the entire city, lady. Get over yourself.
You must live in a different city. There are phone booths, many erected in the last decade, all over the place. They were built, not so much for the telephones, but for the advertising displayed on the structures.
That, and as a place for drunks to urinate.
I think you're referring to telephone kiosks rather than actual, classic, door-having, Superman-clothes-changing, Bill-and-Tedding phone booths.
how about the damned suits who carry their stupid golf umbrellas in the rain? we have some of the widest sidewalks in the world; wide enough for an entire obese midwestern family to walk next to each other as though they are Revolutionary War soldiers. Yet, when it rains, every middle-management douche uses a patio-sized gold umbrella and clogs 1/2 of the sidewalk. IDIOTS! You don't need that much coverage from the rain!
People walking together as if they're in a phalanx is the most irksome thing people do on a sidewalk. I'd say even spitting is less offense than that. But this is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. There is going to be congestion of all sorts.
Who knew one of the most populous cities in the world has crowded sidewalks. This is news to me.
And yes she should go back to West bumblefuck if she doesn't like it.
I'd like to join in the gripe-fest:
Why do women with strollers wait until they are passing between a bike locked to a streetlight and an apartment building's trashcans to stop attend to their offspring? It might be the only place on that block where 1 person can stop everyone from passing, and yet there they are.
...and that goes double for the double-wide strollers!!
Damn, if ever there was a 'me, me, me' piece everyone could rally behind.
How about the elderly? With their slowness, can't walk a straight line, walkers and all their medical supplies, they take up half the sidewalk on their own.
I say make pushing them into traffic legal because dealing with other people is too hard. It's so much easier than asking them to move a bit, or saying excuse me and slipping by.
Why not take some of the 75% of the city that's devoted to automobiles and give it back to pedestrians?
Duh.
That would be wonderful.
yay!
We need those boxes in order to hawk Learning Annex brochures that will feature my invaluable class: "The Art of Defensive Sidewalking."
That may work in practice, but it will never work in theory. Didn't you learn anything from Robert Moses?
People I can deal with, but please get those hideous news boxes out of here. Most of them are empty anyway and falling apart and filled with garbage. Just throw them in the back of the next passing DOS truck.
Nyers know how to maneuver around out-of-towners. That doesn't bother me so much. What does bother me are the long rows of publication boxes. Now they make it more difficult for NYers to get around dumbbells who are new to the city and only walk in straight lines when crossing streets.
i'm just gonna have to go ahead and complain about all the complaining today.
LMAO, soon we'll be getting ticketed for Foot Rage too! and THEY wonder why we need a smoke.
When I went to school in Manhattan 40 years ago, our principal Mr. Tolk always told us to walk to the right and to never walk more than two abreast. If I see three or more people walking towards me I will put my head down and keep on walking straight through. They almost always get the heck out of my way!
That's fun, isn't it? I love splitting up phalanxes in midtown. I also hate "sidewalk drift" where people veer inexplicably on a long diagonal.
I also like to jostle people's extended elbows when they have a cell phone stuck to their ear. "Oops! 'Scuse me!" Good times.
I figured out a trick that works relatively well with "bad asses" who walk too many abreast. Just turn around so they can't make eye contact, then either walk slowly backwards or make them break formation to walk around you.
The benefit of this is that if someone really IS bad enough to hit you for getting in their way, you'll never see it coming.
I wish everyone had a Mr. Tolk.
Many people just do not understand basic sidewalk etiquette. The middle of a busy sidewalk is a great place to stop with your large group and chat? Really? Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to dig in your bag? Really? People really just pay no attention.
We keep hearing about the death of newsprint. We can't help but wonder how much longer our daily newspapers will be with us. It's not a stretch to imagine that these random newsboxes, and their variety of printed contents, might someday be prized artifacts.
Agree with the phalanxes and drifters, window shoppers with that 'shoppers glaze' over their eyes, etc. But what about all the jackasses with or without sandwich boards handing out flyers? Get yer damn arms out of my face!
I don't mind the paper/magazine boxes. They usually create a good buffer to just blow past people by the curb.
oh just wait until it snows and we can watch all the tourists get douched with melted snow on the corners...hilarious!!! Until then...real NYers walk in the street anyways...
Yeah, because we slowly get pushed out into the street by jerks on their cellphones. I swear I'm gonna go moshpit on their asses.
I have to second most of the comments above. The "clutter" these days is really other pedestrians. We really need to bring back the notion of walking quickly, not drifting along the sidewalk, keep to the right, no more than two abreast, and please pay some attention to where you are going.
I've been in more crowded cities in New York and have not had problems walking around because people know how to move. This has only become an issue in New York in the last half dozen years.