New York set to ban cars from Times Square

[Crawford]

LOL, Andrea Peyser of the NY Post hates it, so you know it's a good idea. A NY Daily News poll found that nearly 80% of New Yorkers support the change.

And criticism of the lawn chairs is ridiculous. The street was just closed to traffic two days ago. It can't be redesigned in 48 hours!

The street will eventually have permanent street furniture and plantings, and the former street will be raised to match the sidewalk.

And this will eventually be a continuous, permanent pedestrian mall along Broadway.

[blockski]

Ah, yes. "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

[novawolverine]

Originally Posted by Crawford

The street will eventually have permanent street furniture and plantings, and the former street will be raised to match the sidewalk.

And this will eventually be a continuous, permanent pedestrian mall along Broadway.

I think this will make it pretty impressive, especially as a pedestrian mall. There will still be plenty of cabs flying down the street nearby. I look forward to seeing how NYC changes from a pedestrian/transit aspect in the future. I don't think this particular move will impact travel times too much.

[J. Will]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Don't be absurd.

I'm not being absurd. You're being absurd by judging it after less than a week. Obviously it's not going to look the same when it's "complete", contrary to what you say.

[Lecom]

Columbus Circle used to be a clusterf*ck till they simplified it. Aside from the obvious pedestrian benefits, this move may not be as harsh on cars as it seems. Midtown West is already unsuited for vehicular traffic, so any move like this would only add to discouraging the unnecessary vehicles.

[mthq]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05272009/new...malled_by_incredibly_dumb_ide_171108.htm

REAL NYERS 'MALLED' BY INCREDIBLY DUMB IDEA



May 27, 2009


IN THE annals of stupid ideas, this has got to be the worst. Ever.

Whoa

I don't know her, but I already can tell she isn't one blessed with the ability to make a convincing argument nor winning people over with her argument. People from the Netherlands are satisfied? We have failed. Colbertesque -- only without the satire.

And enough with the critique of the lawnchairs. We get it. They look like shit, but everyone knows those chairs are not permanent.

btw personally I'm still overall mixed on this idea of closing off parts of TS, but I am gravitating a bit toward the pro-plaza side of this debate.

[Patrick]

At first I was shocked at the whole idea, it was all very weird to me, it looks just awful, but obviously when the plaza's are actually done and landscaped it should look much better. Times Square IS the crossroads of the world, but eh, I guess this isn't SO bad, we'll just have to see what happens. I'm in New York next week so I guess I'll have to see what its like up close.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

LOL, Andrea Peyser of the NY Post hates it, so you know it's a good idea. A NY Daily News poll found that nearly 80% of New Yorkers support the change.

Please. That's the difference between the Daily News and the Post. While both papers will generally "kiss ass" for Bloomberg, the Post goes on the negative when it can - often at odds with its own editorial board.

[NYguy]

Who says you can't bring a great city to it's knees? (Or it's a$$)

homesh1979








Talk about redesigns all you like. But the sad truth is that it's awful at Madison Square, and it will be awful here. The thing here is that it will be much worse because pedestrian circulation will be nonexistent. Of course, that would probably change on really rainy days, when the area could look relatively deserted, thanks to the street closures.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/06/..._he_couldnt_with_congestion_pricing.html

Mayor Bloomberg does in Times Square what he could not with congestion pricing





Monday, June 8th 2009


The two policemen are standing in Times Square Sunday, or at least what we used to think of as Times Square before it became the newest summer tourist attraction of New York:

Bloomberg Beach.

It is not yet Rockaway or Coney Island or Jones Beach or Main Beach out in East Hampton, but there's plenty of time, we haven't reached the first official day of summer yet.

Eventually, the city will embrace the way the furniture has been rearranged south of 47th St., literally and figuratively. Or else. If you don't embrace it, starting with the cheesy beach furniture, Mayor Bloomberg will get the City Council to pass an ordinance saying that you have to.

So, at the corner of 43rd and Seventh on Sunday morning, with the sun already high in the sky, one of the uniformed cops smiled and pointed to a guy sleeping in front of Sephora. At this point in the day, what the mayor fancies as a new plaza of the city - one of his new "pedestrian malls" - looked more like a shelter.

The cop said, "Ask yourself something: Who's gonna want to be the next person in that chair?"

Bloomberg Beach, don't you know, is the mayor's latest attempt to landscape the City of New York in a way that makes him memorable. And it isn't just Times Square, it is other patches of concrete that stretch all the way down to Herald Square and Madison Square Park.

But the most eye-catching spot right now in the mayor's memorable landscaping is Times Square, where the red-and-blue plastic chairs and the chaise lounges are supposed to make you feel more civilized and cosmopolitan than the Champs Élyssés in Paris.

I ask another cop, watching the scene from in front of the ESPN Zone, what he thinks of the whole idea and he shakes his head.

"Let's call it a work in progress," he said, as another street guy settled in for a nap in front of Starbucks. "Either that, or comic relief."

This is supposed to be about Michael Bloomberg's continuing attempts to do something heroic about midtown traffic, and a broader vision of his about the greening of the City of New York. That is the cover story, anyway.

This also has more than somewhat to do with Bloomberg getting banged around by Albany on his plan for congestion pricing last year. It would mean that Bloomberg Beach and all other areas like it suddenly springing up in Manhattan are really Bloomberg's revenge.

Because even more than tough questions from the media about term limits - the kind that can rouse the mayor to call the reporter asking them a "disgrace" - this mayor hates being told no.

Out goes congestion pricing? In come the cheesy beach chairs. It's like they say in football: You can't really stop Bloomberg once he gets fixed on something, you can only hope to contain him.

Of course the cop Sunday was right, this is still a work in progress. For instance: If you do get to Bloomberg Beach early on a weekend morning and are lucky enough to have your pick of chairs, on either side of Times Square, you just have to imagine that the roar of the hoses from the red Hotsy street-cleaning machines is actually the roar of the ocean.

It is more crowded on a nice Saturday afternoon, most of the chairs filled from 47th to 42nd, and a salsa band playing in front of the Sunglass Hut on 45th St. and a woman rolling out a yoga mat and posing for a photographer, and the crowd. Whether this is ultimately good for the city, and good for businesses in Times Square, is a jump ball.

"The sidewalks are a lot busier," Tom Kopie, a Queens kid working in the store Element, said the other day. "I can't say that we're a lot busier in here. But maybe it's a slow week." He shrugged and said, "Or a slow year."

But it is a busy time for the mayor as he moves up on a third term, acting as if he is running unopposed, acting as usual as if nobody is supposed to oppose him on anything. This time he didn't have to ask Albany about traffic, he went ahead and did what he wanted, as if everything from streetcorner to streetcorner belongs to him.

When you are about to be Mayor for Life, it's either Bloomberg's way or the highway. Or, in this case, the area just east of the Great White Way. Pull up a chair.

_____________________________

I think someone mentioned a Daily News poll...it works both ways...

Poll Results
How do you feel about the lawn chairs in Times Square?

Love 'em - They let people pause and enjoy being at the center of everything....... 19%

Hate 'em - They're worse than all the crowded sidewalks were...... 44%

Not sure - But why would anyone want to sit around in the middle of Times Square?........ 37%

[SHiRO]

WTF with the chairs? Looks like crap!

[blockski]

So, does anyone have a substantive criticism, or are you just going to bash the temporary chairs?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by SHiRO

WTF with the chairs? Looks like crap!

The chairs are temporary! Who gives a crap about the chairs already?

[SHiRO]

How is TS going to look in the future then?

That the chairs are temporary doesn't negate the fact that they look like crap (not trying to rub it in, just perplexed by how someone obviously thought this was a good idea...)

[Crawford]

And the moron Lupica is blinded by his opposition to Bloomberg. What a ridiculous news article.

What does a pedestrian street have to do with congestion pricing? They're completely unrelated.

How does a pedestrian street "punish" New Yorkers? Considering that 60% of NYC households do not own a vehicle, are we all "punished" whenever we are on a street that allows vehicles?

All those pedestrianized centers in Europe are "punishment" for their ungrateful citizens?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by SHiRO

How is TS going to look in the future then?

They haven't released renderings yet, but they have announced the following:

1. Trees in planters as barriers to traffic
2. Raising the street level to sidewalk level
3. Decorative pavement
4. Permanent street furniture

They're still debating whether to allow cafes and vendors.

Originally Posted by SHiRO

That the chairs are temporary doesn't negate the fact that they look like crap (not trying to rub it in, just perplexed by how someone obviously thought this was a good idea...)

Agreed, they do look like crap, but they're just for a few weeks, and are being used to test how people use the space.

They cost just $10 each.

[SHiRO]

Cafes are a must I think.
Thanks for the info.

[Dac150]

To me this entire menagerie going on is inappropriate and out of place. From personal experience and from what I’ve read and seen on pictures, this entire project and execution is out of sort and mishandled. It doesn’t seem safe, it doesn’t seem clean, and it’s certainly not visually appealing in some circumstances.

I believe over time the residents of the city, as well as those who frequent that thoroughfare will see to it that this fiasco does no justice and has no place in the middle of Midtown Manhattan. Purposes such as this are for what public plazas and parks serve, not city streets. And the transforming of this into a permanent fixture will in the long term be a mistake.

I for one can only hope that the public will voice an unanimous opinion that this ordeal is to be temporary for this year and for this year only, only for normal traffic to resume in not only Times Square, but for all stretches along Broadway effected by this.

[bbeliko]

I'm very fond of this ban, and i hope that when it's finished it will look really good, but currently, it looks like something i would expect to see in a crappy town (or perhaps Mexico City??) here in Mexico, New York deserves better.

[KVNBKLYN]

Originally Posted by Dac150

It doesn’t seem safe, it doesn’t seem clean, and it’s certainly not visually appealing in some circumstances.

WTF? Doesn't seem safe? Allowing a tiny number of people to plow multi-ton machines through the densest, most pedestrian filled space in the country is more safe than this? How is that, exactly?

And how do you feel about Union Square? Should we rip out all the pedestrian space that was created when Broadway was closed off between 14th and 17th Streets? Get rid of the green market? The plaza space along 14th street? Would Union Square be more vibrant with more cars pouring through it?

And why we're at it, how about reopen Fifth Avenue through Washington Square? It seems unclean now with all those pedestrians and that stupid arch impeding traffic.