For a brief moment, it appeared that hundreds of thousands of tourists would not be squeezed like sardines against the cold edges of terrorism-boulders around Rockefeller Center during the holiday season. Thankfully, Mayor de Blasio stepped in before things got out of hand.
A member of the Department of Transportation (who is believed to be harboring pedestrian sympathies) put their plan into motion earlier this week. On Monday, the Midtown Community Board reportedly received a letter from the DOT announcing that the city would be closing two lanes of traffic on Fifth Avenue between 48th and 51st Streets, shortly after Thanksgiving, as part of a "Holiday Pedestrian Congestion Mitigation Plan."
"NYC DOT is excited to be able to provide forty-percent more pedestrian space along these three blocks of Fifth Avenue during the holiday season this year, in order to reduce pedestrian congestion and improve both the safety and overall experience of the countless New Yorkers and tourists visiting the area at this special time," read the letter, which was mysteriously signed by DOT's Manhattan Borough Commissioner Ed Pincar.
Asked about the plan on Thursday, de Blasio told reporters, "It was premature."
"Whoever at Department of Transportation let that get out there, maybe it was accidental, maybe someone was trying to further their own agenda," the mayor said.
Indeed, there are a growing number of local government officials trying to subvert the mayor's steady hand with all sorts of people-first policies. Earlier this week, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilman Keith Powers published an op-ed in Gotham Gazette calling on the city to pedestrianize the streets immediately surrounding Rockefeller Center. Council Speaker Corey Johnson went a step further on Thursday, demanding the area be permanently pedestrianized.
But those people aren't in charge of New York City streets, and they don't get to decide whether the city does or does not provide an extra bit of space for the one million people who will pass through Midtown in the hopes of a special holiday outing.
"It was not signed off on at City Hall," the mayor explained. "We're going to look at that, it may be a good idea, but it's just premature."
Shortly after the mayor's pronouncement, a non-compromised spokesperson for the DOT confirmed that "while a letter was sent to local officials notifying them of potential remedies, nothing has been finalized."
The letter, which you can read here, is not a notification of potential remedies, but a simple announcement of a straightforward plan—making the mayor's last-minute save today all the more impressive.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for ensuring things remain exactly the same.
