Friday, January 22, 2010

Jet's Fans Crowd Times Square

I swear this isn't really about the Jets (GO GO GO GO GO JETS) but about the way NYC continues to lead the way as an innovator in pedestrian friendly design-- at least in Manhattan.

So anyway the Jets are in the AFC championship game, (a rare moment) and their having a pep rally-- big deal. Sad to say that in many ways it is. Most of the time, these rallies have to be organised well in advance and be held in a stadium, thousands packed the roads to get to. Of course if one wins the whole thing, most cities block off a central area for approved celebrations, an inconvenience that seriously screws up traffic patterns and interrupts business and daily life.

This however doesn't seem like this at all. Daily life is going on and traffic is moving normally because Broadway, the central street in the "center of the world", is now always closed to traffic.

How can this happen? Well, experts have long known that close to 90% of the people in Times Square on a business day took some form of mass transit or walked there. Even so, up till almost a year ago, the bulk of space was dedicated to cars. Sidewalks were jammed so tight that many pedestrians tried to avoid the area if they could. Finally the mayor whom I don't fully support on many things took the logical step of closing Broadway from 23RD Street all the way past 42ND Street to all non emergency vehicles.

Not everyone's happy about it.


Streetfilms-Veronica Moss Visits Times Square - The most amazing home videos are here

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