The NY Post has made no attempt to disguise its contempt for the Times Square and Herald Square pedestrian plazas, which transformed seven blocks of Broadway into 2½ acres of pedestrian oases. Columnists for the tabloid have criticized the plazas for attracting vagrants, smokers, and lazy people, while simultaneouslykilling local businesses and snarling traffic. So it comes as no surprise that today's Post article about the DOT's plan to create more pedestrian plazas around town should begin with the lede "Motorists, beware." First they came for Times Square, and we said nothing...
The DOT is asking non-profit groups to submit "smaller-scale" proposals to expand the program around NYC, focusing on neighborhoods such as Murray Hill, the Upper East Side, Astoria, Queens, and Borough Park. If a proposed plaza is approved and built, the community group would be responsible for maintaining it. But as the Post moans, the Broadway plazas "have been criticized for taking space from motorists in an already-gridlocked city and handing it over to pedestrians." (Never mind that the traffic rerouted around the plazas is moving faster in almost all directions.)
For perspective, the Post turned to random New Yorkers for expert commentary. "Cutting off more streets would be annoying for many drivers, I'm sure," opined one Mikayla Gilbert, who was found sitting in a pedestrian plaza in the Meatpacking District. "I think New York is already suffering from gridlock bad enough." Well, that settles it! Are we going to let the DOT go all Obama and ram more of these car-free zones down our throats? Torches and pitchforks in Times Square at noon!
