Mayor Bill de Blasio’s suggestion that Times Square’s pedestrian plazas could be ripped up and replaced by roadway shows an imperfect understanding of the need for public space in New York City. The plazas, one of the Bloomberg administration’s signature public space achievements, were an attempt to humanize a city that has too long prioritized cars over people. They made the area demonstrably safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. They provided a platform to pause amid Broadway’s bustle. As a bold experiment, the plazas haven’t been uncomplicated. Times Square is by its nature a crowded, unruly crossroads. No one wants to be accosted by loutish performers. But that’s a policing problem, not an excuse to ban people from the heart of a great city. Public space is already a fugitive commodity in New York. We need more of it, designed with more imagination and panache, not less.
Jeff Byles
Jeff Byles is President of The Fine Arts Federation of New York. Join the Federation at its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 17, honoring architectural historian and New York Times “Streetscapes” columnist Christopher Gray. See www.fineartsfederation.org for details.
