http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jUxt55rCgDBlACmki6PfSEdZsoogD98D50201



First of all, both of those Squares suck anyway. Too many friggen tourists who dont pay attention to anything. I do what I can to avoid walking through them, but this just seems like a moronic idea.

Town squares are good health for cities, I like this move. Big cities could use a few more small town touches to round out all the jagged edges

What Kirbs said.

And like I said to mb earlier on, it doesn't really specify the extent. For instance in the city I'm from theres part of the city centre thats closed to private cars, however buses and taxis still have access to the area.

what about police and other emergency vehicles?

I don't know about you, but NYC is already a nightmare to drive in. The tourist business is indeed important to New York, but the "city that never sleeps" needs efficient means of moving goods.

The obvious solution would be promoting the subways to transport people, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) already proved that the only real thing they excel at is hemorrhaging money.

I agree, but NYC already has all of those 'small town' touches. There are plenty of parks and squares, most notably Central Park


The problem is, tourists think of NYC as this (essentially just the mid town):
http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&q=times+square+new+york&m=text

When a lot of New York looks more like a smaller town. Hard to believe yes, but there are parts of New York city that are quiet at night

Anyway the main problem I have with the issue is that its blocking off major intersections. Even just restricting the areas to cabs would still let a lot of traffic through: Times Square and Herald Square

Reduce pedestrian accidents? Who the **** cares? The only people walking through Times Square are fat Midwestern tourists, mow them down I say.

So wait, is this permanent?

I'm inclined to agree with stat

I hope not Veger, maybe the department of Transportation will realize their silliness!

Makes sense, since roads aren't meant for ca--oh, wait.

Oh god. When I went through Times Square it was already bad enough trying to get ANYWHERE within even a few thousand feet. Now I imagine traffic is hell in all of manhattan all the time.

Stupid.

I agree with Kirby, it will add a small town touch to the most popular tourist area in NYC. Traffic is and will always be a ***** in NYC, I'm not sure how this is going to make it worse. Also most cities in Europe have "Fussgangerzones" or pedestrian areas that are great for the area.

Emergency vehicles can still get through if necessary

We should discuss how horrible that part of NYC is. Nothing but chain restaurants and ugly advertisements.

NYC already has parks and small places to gather. The whole "plaza and town squares" idea originated from European cities; it doesn't necessarily integrate well with what NYC developed as.

I agree with fishstickz and ECHOMAN. NYC has plenty of parks. You guys might have heard of... oh I dont know, Central Park maybe? Times Square is a horrible horrible place and I do all that I can to avoid it. If you're a tourist go see it for like 10 minutes, other than that it's not worth it. The only thing its good for is big glowy signs and homeless people that want to sell you things.

Mirthy- You're right, traffic is horrendous in NYC. If you avoid places like Times Sq and Herald Sq it's not so bad. The problem I have with them blocking off these areas is that it's going to push traffic to the smaller quieter roads, especially since they're the most direct routes to some parts of the city!

I think Times Square has charm late at night, like 2 or 3 in the morning when people are going clubbing and the like, but otherwise yeah pointless.

I loved Brooklyn though.