All of Broadway should be OPENED fully to pedestrians from 33rd to 60th.

Every World Class City has vibrant and large pedestrian zones. It’s time New York City has the same.

Or how about 23rd Street/Madison Square Park, or 14th Street/Union Square.

Most great things about New York were inherited from earlier generations. We’ve done little but neglect or actively destroy the city since the 1950s. Finally the Bloomberg administration came and tried to improve our streets a bit, and now De Blasio threatens to undermine even their limited success.

With characteristic obliviousness, BdB once explained that his opposition to the Times Square plazas was connected to his own personal experience being inconvenienced as a “motorist.” Most drivers (on CBs, City Council, etc.) have at least learned to explain their opposition to rebalancing the street equation in terms of “asthma,” “pollution,” and the like.

This mayor has “windshield perspective” written right up and down his entire policy platform. It explains so much about him, including his petulance over contributing more to the MTA, his preference to add ferries immediately (while merely “studying” the Utica line), the incompetence of the DOT under his administration, continuing NYPD crackdowns on cyclists, his foot-dragging on MoveNY, and now this. I half expect him to decide to deal with congestion in the CBD by removing bike lanes, since his Uber solution was DOA and he’s not interested in MoveNY. What’s left to blame, to a lunkhead like this, if not all those pesky cyclists?

It does not seem to have occurred to Bratton or de Blasio that the supposed problem of nudity in Times Square could be quickly solved with slightly stepped-up foot patrols and a handful of arrests. New York is one of the country’s richest cities and has more cops per capita than most. Someone should ask Bratton: You can’t find an extra half-dozen uniformed officers to walk the beat and enforce your idea of order in the city’s highest-profile location? Really? De Blasio: This is a problem that requires a task force? Really?

Yep, a “progressive” mayor would be pedestrianizing large parts of Midtown and Downtown.

We finally got a pedestrianized street across from Penn Station thanks to the real estate company that owns the buildings that surround it, not due to City government initiative. It seems like the BDB administration is less progressive than just about everybody in the city on transportation and public spaces.

The Mayor needs to watch this video and then issue a full apology to the people of NYC.

I’d love to see hop on hop off light rail between Union Sq and Columbus Circle. It would pay for itself in tourist dollars. That would limit the need for the tour buses clogging already crowded midtown streets.

I don’t know what “aggressive panhandling” is. When I walk through Times Square I have earbuds and the gait and body language of someone who is clearly a waste of their time. So no one ever bothers me.

I’m just saying that even though it’s totally legal that they are topless, they might still be doing something that’s illegal. But don’t get me wrong: I still think this is all about prudery and sexism.

Well, I usually take it to mean actively soliciting whilst blocking the way, touching, etc.. Nothing I haven’t seen PETA, Doctors Without Borders, and Greenpeace do.

Beyond that, there have been media reports of, say, characters getting physical over not getting good enough tips. I hate to speculate based on that though because it’s pretty anecdotal.

Anyway, was just wondering. I almost never go there, but it seriously sounds like they’re just throwing stuff out there to see what sticks.

BdB acknowledges in his comments that their activity is likely protected and that he’s going to need to be creative to put a stop to the women (but notably not to the cartoon characters). He pretty transparently admits boobs are the problem.

It’s pretty sad that it’s 2015 and we still have elected officials who think that putting lives at risk is preferable to someone seeing a topless woman.

With a limited budget for infrastructure, I’d rather spend on projects that don’t provide redundant functionality.

Complementary I’d say. What’s your view on the plazas? Don’t say redundant!

As a native New Yorker, I never bothered learning how to drive, so plazas beat car lanes for me every time.

Thank goodness someone at the NY Times as a clue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/22/arts/design/challenging-mayor-de-blasio-over-times-square-plazas.html

It’s worth noting that San Francisco has BART, Muni, and the Market Street Streetcars on three layers all running right down Market Street. They’re *all* full.

A really, really busy corridor can fill them all up.

…so you’re saying it will never stop