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Curbed NY- DeBlasio's Times Square Overhaul Gets Lots of Thumbs Down

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Everybody Hates de Blasio's Times Square Overhaul Proposal

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TIMES SQUARE WATCH

Everybody Hates de Blasio's Times Square Overhaul Proposal

Friday, August 21, 2015, by Jeremiah Budin
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[Photo via Nikolas Moya/Flickr]
It's pretty rare for a mayor to propose something that everybody immediately agrees on, but pretty much everybody seems to agree theMayor de Blasio's proposal (expanding from a remark by Police Commissioner Bratton) to get rid of the pedestrian plazas in Times Square because we must Protect The Children from body-painted women is, in a word, bad. "Sure, let's tear up Broadway — we can't govern, manage or police our public spaces," Times Square Alliance president Tim Tompkins told Times archicritic Michael Kimmelman, who writes:
It's hard to grasp [de Blasio's] calculus. One of Mr. de Blasio's big initiatives, Vision Zero, aims to improve pedestrian safety. Ripping up the pedestrian plazas in Times Square, restoring cars and forcing millions of people to dodge traffic again, runs headlong into his own policy.

...

Time and again, Mr. de Blasio leaves an impression that he understands very little about the dynamics of urbanism and the physical fabric of the city ... Entertaining the demolition of the plazas, the mayor sends a message that New York can't support the sort of great pedestrian hubs that thrive in competing cities around the globe.
New York archicritic Justin Davidson had similarly harsh words, in a column titled "De Blasio's Proposal to Destroy Pedestrian Times Square Is the Opposite of Progressive." Davidson writes:
I understand that the mayor doesn't care for the carnival atmosphere at Times Square — neither do I. But eradicating a pedestrian plaza because you don't like who's walking there is like blasting away a beach because you object to bikinis or paving a park because you hate squirrels. It represents such a profound misunderstanding of public space that it makes me question the mayor's perception of what counts as progressive.
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BILL DE BLASIO
PEDESTRIAN PLAZAS
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 35 COMMENTS
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COMMENTS (35 EXTANT)
TheCommentariat443
Countdown until the backtrack really should have begun the second the proposal was published. But, really, de Blasio said a lot of these things when he was running for the nomination -- where were the critics then? Too busy idolizing him and tearing someone down who actually would have been a successful progressive mayor...
#1. 08/21/15 03:29 PM
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AUTISTIC?$!.487
The power of voodoo can get one into office, though voodoo demons make horrible consultants as these demons are really simple idiots?!$.
#2. 08/21/15 03:29 PM
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EHinBH93
I hate the plazas -- but that is because I work near there and have to walk through the mobs twice a day, every day. And it is pretty awful. He is afraid -- I think -- to have police do their jobs because of all the sensitivity with the NYPD. And that is why he would rather tear them up... That would be better in his mind than lots of stories about altercations with cops...
#3. 08/21/15 03:29 PM
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RoamDawG559
de Blasio's plan is pretty stupid on so, so many levels. The first of which is that it would cost money to remove the plazas and that is reason enough to not adopt this hare/hair-brained proposal.
#4. 08/21/15 03:36 PM
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BKNYC256
I hate those plazas but Times Square needs the walking room.
#5. 08/21/15 03:39 PM
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spartanglacier13
Let's not forgot Bratton was the one who initially proposed this. BDB should be embarrassed for taking it seriously, but the police commissioner should also be ridiculed.
#6. 08/21/15 03:54 PM
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Curbed_Sucks7
The so called street performers that do nothing but loiter about has got to go. No talent. No tip. That should be the new tourist motto.
NY: The Greatest City In The World!
#7. 08/21/15 03:56 PM
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Views4Days1833
Bill de Blasio's level of incompetence never fails to amaze me. Mayor de Blasio's list of controversies includes but is not limited to:
1) Threatening to ban horse carriages, which he LOST
2) Being against the NYPD, who literally turn their backs on him
3) Limiting Uber because of a traffic study, which he LOST
4) Banning development of other supertall towers near Central Park due to shadows, which he LOST
5) Saying he will stop the quality of life crimes committed by the homeless which he HASN'T
6) Saying he will rip up the plazas in Times Square which would create a traffic disaster and WON'T HAPPEN
Now, tearing up the plazas will cost tens of million of dollars, create a traffic disaster in Times Square, cause the panhandlers and naked women to move to the sidewalks and cause trouble there and make businesses even more unhappy about their awful location.
Bill de Blasio is becoming a bigger joke of a mayor by the week. I mean seriously what will be the next fiasco this guy comes up with?
#8. 08/21/15 03:57 PM
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Views4Days1833
@Curbed_Sucks: All the street performers will do is go straight to the sidewalks and raise hell there instead of on the plazas.
#9. 08/21/15 03:58 PM
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rr221384
let's make every even-numbered street into a car-free place for strolling, hanging out, cycling, and playing hop-scotch
#11. 08/21/15 04:10 PM
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Jeff438
I'm going to confess my unpopular opinion and admit that I don't mind the "carnival atmosphere" at Times Square. It's a weird little spectacle among the many spectacles that make NYC special. Anecdotes about an occasional tourist getting shaken down by a dirty Elmo or offended by a painted boob make me laugh more than anything.
Moreover, Times Square occupies a relatively minuscule patch of land but generates a ton of sales tax revenue to support city services. Like any other NYC resident, I usually avoid Times Square, but it is an asset in several respects.
#12. 08/21/15 04:20 PM
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rr221384
the plazas are a nice touch and it will be much better once the construction is finished on the additional ones they're building. if anything, we need more of them, far beyond times square, to make this city more livable.
i'd be happy to get rid of the sad-looking buzz lightyear characters (and others) because they are a space-wasting nuisance that nobody seems to enjoy.
one weird and annoying things is how the bike lane on broadway pretty much just ends at the plazas. it should have been pretty easy to keep the bike lane continuous through there. bike lanes are much more conducive to being adjacent to pedestrian plazas than to vehicular traffic....
#13. 08/21/15 04:41 PM
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Sierrajeff213
@Jeff, exactly right (and not because of the name!). I was actually against the plazas, hating the idea of interrupting Broadway... but the fact is they work. You can now stroll, stop, gawk, etc. in Times Square - and, if you're simply trying to pass through, there's room to do so. If people have problems with panhandlers or shake-down artists, then lets enforce those laws - not throw out the plaza with the bathwater.
#14. 08/21/15 04:41 PM
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Lo_Pan649
is it really a 'proposal' if all deblasio said was they'd look into it?
#15. 08/21/15 05:17 PM
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TotalFecal443
@Views4Days: Don't worry, he's still less of a joke than you are.
#16. 08/21/15 05:52 PM
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razini24
@TheCommentariat: I for one was VERY aware when he said this during the campaign, and I thought to myself...ha ha, he just screwed himself. Everyone who was against Christine Quinn because she was 'too much like bloomberg' is going to realize...oh, I actually like some of the stuff Bloomberg did...I don't want those plazas gone...and who is this deblazzzzio anyway? How on earth is he qualified to run a city? Because he ran a campaign or two? That's imbecilic.
And yet, he won the primary.
DOWN WITH DEBLASIO IN 2017! ELECT A NEW MAYOR.
I hope at least he republicans put up someone a self respecting democrat could vote for.
#17. 08/21/15 06:29 PM
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designated63
The headline should read, "Everybody Hates DeBlasio". There I fixed it for you. You'd think his big trip to Italy last summer would have enlightened him to the benefits of car free public spaces.
#18. 08/21/15 07:00 PM
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designated63
The headline should read, "Everybody Hates DeBlasio". There I fixed it for you. You'd think his big trip to Italy last summer would have enlightened him to the benefits of car free public spaces.
#19. 08/21/15 07:04 PM
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whoa1370
DeBlasio makes Dinkins look good
#20. 08/21/15 08:55 PM
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Montague20
He is a moron who will will go down with Lindsay and Dinkins as the worst mayors in the City's history. He not only lacks an understanding of urbanism but also leadership, management, strategy quite frankly anything that doesn't have to do with being a philosophy professor at Sarah Lawrence college. Those two hundred thousand morons that voted for him should be rounded up and exiled to New Hampshire.
#21. 08/21/15 08:56 PM
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stache646
I could see opening up the plazas for bus routes and fire/EMS service. Maybe a lane or two.
#22. 08/21/15 09:57 PM
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TheCommentariat443
@razini: to be fair, his about-face on the plazas came after the primary, I think. Still, he said a bunch of anti-transit things before winning the nomination that alone should have disqualified him.
#23. 08/21/15 10:08 PM
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lfovmup3
Whats wrong with exploring the effect of the plazas? The Bloomberg administration was keen on privatizing public space (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathryn-swan/new-york-parks-privatization_b_3112139.html ; http://www.nypress.com/local-news/20150506/victory-deferred-in-damrosch ) There have been real questions about public access. According to their website, the private 401c3 Times Square Alliance provides its own public safety officers and helps rent out the space. Im not taking a stand on keeping of getting rid of the plazas, but I think there are underlying issues here that deserve more discussion. Im kind of disappointed in the knee jerk reaction of most of the people are having on this site.
#24. 08/22/15 07:26 AM
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lfovmup3
Keeping or* getting rid... thats meant to be or not of
#25. 08/22/15 07:35 AM
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ronjon155
@lfovmup: I think the knee jerk reaction you're witnessing has more to do with what an idiot De Blasio is than the public plazas themselves. "Designated" said it best when he suggested changing the title of this article to "Everyone Hates DeBlasio." I don't know a single New Yorker who likes him, Democrat or otherwise. Even the ones who voted for him now hate him. In a few short months, he has managed to undo the decades of quality-of-life progress that we have gained through our past three mayors. He has zero control over our police force and that is why he suggests work-arounds like getting rid of plazas and tries to spin it as public safety when it will really be just the opposite. He is not an intelligent man. Anyone with a higher IQ, meaning everyone else, can see right through his tactics.
#26. 08/22/15 08:25 AM
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lfovmup3
What was DeBlasio's actual statement? I've been trying to search for it online, but the closes thing I can find are reports from the Times saying that he put together a task force to explore options for Times Square. Bratton appears to have said something on the radio, but not DeBlasio. @ronjon, If Bratton has zero control over the police force, then he should resign.
#27. 08/22/15 09:28 AM
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REspectator3206
I like de Blasio.
I don't see what everyone is getting so excited about.
As for the costumed movie characters in Times Square, aren't they making money by infringing on trademarks? Can't they either be licensed by the city -- with required proof of parallel licensing by the corporate owners of those trademark owners -- or be put out of business? Aren't they much like the Canal Street knockoff vendors?
#28. 08/22/15 09:32 AM
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StatenIslander6721
@EHinBH: With no plaza, it will be even worse. The people are not going away, so they will just go to the sidewalks, making them totally impassible.
The street performers need to be regulated, that is it. Problem solved.
#29. 08/22/15 10:06 AM
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StatenIslander6721
@razini: Your last line is the problem. The Republican party is a pile of crazy on the national level and mostly a joke within the city.
The only truly decent and smart Republican politicians I know of in this city is my borough president, Jim Oddo and my city councilman, Steve Matteo. The problem though, is the rest of the city wouldn't vote for a Staten Islander if their lives depended on it.
#30. 08/22/15 10:09 AM
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BruceNY1
The difference between Deblasio vs. Lindsay & Dinkins is that they were mayors of a city either already starting its decline/decay phase, as all other northern industrial cities were at that tiem, or already at rock bottom. Deblasio inherited a city at a peak of exuberance, safety, and health not seen in over a half a century but seems hell bent on sending it back down the sewer.
#31. 08/22/15 01:39 PM
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NYCHOTPILOT4
While at it why not kill all the dogs because of dog poop?
#32. 08/22/15 02:33 PM
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NYCsince83836
Calm down, everyone. It ain't gonna happen.
#33. 08/22/15 05:32 PM
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MHeinz2836
@Views4Days: Agreed on all point. Let's LEAVE the plazas along with the painted ladies and get rid of deBlasio instead.
#35. 08/23/15 10:12 PM
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