Times Square Goes Car-Free

bomberpete, my family and I vacationed in NYC a couple of years ago. You are correct in saying there is way too much traffic in the downtown area. But NYC is a rare case here in the USA. Most people don't live in high density urban enviroments. And I wasn't mentioning the average urban citizen, but the "rich and famous" who constantly harp about more people needing to live closer together and take public transportation. All while living in huge estates and taking the most inefficient transportation possible. Making sure they don't come in contact with us.

moedaman : May 27th, 2009 at 8:40 am bomberpete, my family and I vacationed in NYC a couple of years ago. You are correct in saying there is way too much traffic in the downtown area. But NYC is a rare case here in the USA. Most people don’t live in high density urban environments. Thank you moedaman. Yes, NYC is a rare case. The only point I really care about getting across is that criticizing the Times Square solution based on other dense urban environments isn't valid. And I wasn’t mentioning the average urban citizen, but the “rich and famous” who constantly harp about more people needing to live closer together and take public transportation. All while living in huge estates and taking the most inefficient transportation possible. Making sure they don’t come in contact with us. I understand. After all, the term "limosine liberal" was coined in NYC. Thank you for acknowledging that NYC isn't all millionaires like others seem to think. I agree that it happens. But isn't that true about some rich people everywhere? Especially -- and getting to the heart of TTAC is all about -- auto executives who live(d) in places like Grosse Pointe? Their myopia - and THANK YOU, Brock Yates -- is what got US (as in US tax payers) into this mess. Look, it's fair to criticize urban planners for the things they don't take into account. However, it isn't fair to characterize them as out-of-touch elitists imposing their anti-auto will when what they're really doing is tackling a serious issue with real actions. In Times Square, motor vehicles are a major contribution to the area's congestion problem. Several of the Best and Brightest -- all car enthusiasts, I assume -- acknowledge that. Any effective solution has to reduce the impact motor vehicles have. At the same time, it isn't realistic for anyone to think this is a solution that will help congestion in Butte, Montana, Lincoln, Nebraska or even Los Angeles.

If New Yorkers want this for Times Sqaure, more power to them. I am a little baffled though - haven't they figured out that traffic comes with living in a city? That's why it's called a...city. I'd be more worried if there WEREN'T lots of traffic in Times Square. It shows that lots of people want to be in Manhattan. I'm sure that Detroit or Cleveland would LOVE to have this problem. What's next? Are they going to complain about all of those tall buildings in Manhattan...?

Dear Lord, please let them put lotsa cops all over these places. A repeat of 70's TSQ during the current econ climate would NOT be cool.