NEW YORK | City Struggles With Population of Times Square

[montréaliste]

Times Square is eleven times the square root of the many square feet it comprises.

[chris08876]

Some more construction occurring. It never ends. This plaza renovation has been one of the longest I've ever seen.


1457730881_20160311161441 (1) by Christopher Estevez, on Flickr

The Northern flank is finished, likewise for the center plaza, and I think this will be the last component. Either way, they are going to expand it towards 42nd Street, but its not going to help with the crowds. Still a clusterfu**

[chris08876]

Tourism numbers just keep rising. Figured I'd post it here as its kinda related to the overcrowding. 58.3 million for 2015 and 59.7 projected for 2016.
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59.7 million visitors this year

It has been a decade since former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg decided to ramp up New York City’s efforts to attract more tourists, and city officials say there is no end to the influx on the horizon.

In Berlin on Wednesday, Fred Dixon, the chief executive of New York’s tourism-marketing agency, NYC & Company, plans to announce a forecast of 59.7 million visitors this year. That would exceed last year’s record of 58.3 million visitors by 2.4 percent and keep the city on pace for a goal of drawing 67 million annual visitors by 2021, Mr. Dixon said in an interview.

The tourists have kept flowing into New York from around the country and the rest of the world despite turmoil in many places, a slowing economy in China and a strengthening American dollar that weakens the buying power of foreigners, Mr. Dixon said. Despite the slowdown in China, the country is expected to be a growing source of visitors to the city in 2016, which has been declared “U.S.-China tourism year,” he said.

NYC & Company is projecting about 920,000 visitors from China this year, an increase of 8.2 percent from the preliminary estimate of about 850,000 in 2015. China is the fourth-largest source of foreign visitors to the city, behind England, Canada and Brazil.

“We’ve already said we’re expecting Chinese visitors to reach one million by 2018, and this could help us achieve it even sooner,” Mr. Dixon said.

Under the leadership of Mr. Dixon, who was chosen to be chief executive by Mayor Bill de Blasio two years ago, NYC & Company has continued to promote the city overseas — not an inexpensive undertaking.

The agency’s total budget for this year will be about $35 million, with more than half of it provided by the city government, Mr. Dixon said. The rest comes from hotel operators and other tourism-related businesses that make up its membership.

Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for economic development, said the city’s contribution is projected to increase this year by more than 50 percent, to over $18 million.

“Tourism is an incredibly important piece of our economy,” Ms. Glen said in a phone interview. “When we invest in the sector, we get a really high return.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/ny...this-year.html
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Previous Stats:

Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2014:
56.5 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2013:
54.3 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2012:
52.7 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2011:
50.9 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2010:
48.8 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2009:
45.6 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2008:
47.1 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2007:
46 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2006:
43.8 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2005:
42.7 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2004:
39.9 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2003:
37.8 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2002:
35.3 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2001:
35.2 million
Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2000:
36.2 million

Credit: http://www.nycgo.com/articles/nyc-statistics-page

[chris08876]

Above the Fray: 100architects’ “Vertical Times Square” Rethinks Urban Recreation

New Yorkers love to hate Times Square. While the district has a lot to offer, it’s plagued by massive crowds and the strangely oppressive smell of honey-roasted nuts. It isn’t hard to understand why people here are always in such a rush: They just want to get away from it all! But what if people had another option? What if they could get away by going up?

This idea has motivated the Shanghai-based architecture firm 100architects to design a new form of urban recreation. This multitiered conceptual proposal, named Vertical Times, offers visitors stellar 360-degree views and various options for fun and relaxation.

The structure is composed of six cylindrical pods stacked on top of one another along a central column. While the pods are enclosed by glass walls for safety, the open-roof design allows fresh air to circulate through these spaces, as well. Visitors reach these pods by entering an elevator that moves up and down the central column. The 180-foot-tall (55-meter-tall) design has a very small footprint and will cause minimal disruption to the movement of crowds through Times Square.

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http://architizer.com/blog/vertical-times-square/

[Dac150]

That's a little over the top…even for Times Square.

[mhays]

Multiple observation levels are a cool idea, but:
--Where are the emergency egress stairs? This is the US.
--Elevator capacity would be a huge problem.
--There appears to be no provision for bathrooms, which would be needed on multiple levels.
--Likewise, no provision for the back-of-house aspects of these features. Ever read the Reddit discussion on ball pits and the horrors within?
--Do they expect to do this on public property?

[NYC4Life]

I can imagine that would get in the way of the new year's eve ball drop.

[mrsmartman]

new york city time square at night 1960s



https://www.pinterest.com/pin/527976756285454376/

[streetscaper]

aww.. look at how quaint it looked

[NYguy]

http://ny.curbed.com/2016/12/19/1400...sm-2016-record

More tourists visited NYC in 2016 than ever before
The city welcomed a record 60.3 million visitors in 2016





BY RACHEL SUGAR
DEC 19, 2016

The city is bustling with tourists like never before. According to a statement from the Mayor’s office, New York City will have welcomed a record 60.3 million visitors by the end of this year, making 2016 a banner year for tourism in the Big Apple: for the first time ever, the total number of city visitors exceeded 60 million.

The new figure is 600,000 visitors higher than the original estimate for 2016, and 1.8 million visitors higher than the year-end count from last year. That makes this the “seventh consecutive year of travel and tourism growth for the city,” the statement says.

And while more tourists may mean more congested sidewalks, the Mayor’s Office is quick to point out that it also means more jobs: travel and tourism now sustain more than 375,000 jobs across the city, 15,000 of those being new this year.

“More tourism means we have more people investing in New York City and are able to create more sustainable jobs for more people,” said Mayor de Blasio. “New York is a culturally rich and diverse city, with so much to offer those who visit. I look forward to continue promoting this beautiful city and welcoming all those who visit in the future.”‎

And the number is expected to climb again in 2017. NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organization for the five boroughs, predicts a total of 61.8 million visitors making their way through the city in the coming year: 48.7 million of those are expected to be domestic travelers, while 13.1 will be international visitors—both record highs, according to current estimates.

[dc_denizen]

think they will ever de-clad and restore the old times building?

[dc_denizen]

1908:

[streetscaper]

It's a nice building, but I certainly hope they never do. I like Times Square, the epitome of futuristic, larger than life jumbotrons everywhere you look, the crush of humanity, it's so epic. And for these obvious reasons (and more) it's become the most visited tourist site in the world. I wouldn't wanna mess that up either.

[NYguy]

http://vintagemanhattanskyline.tumblr.com/page/31

[chris08876]

From Earthcam just now.

[chris08876]

• Video Link

[Leo the Dog]

^dui?

[ChargerCarl]

Think of how bad it would have been without the new pedestrian safety features.

[chris08876]

They are saying that... well, saying he was "drunk" but this NYpost article kinda insinuates something else?

I know nypost tends to exaggerate, but makes you wonder. I was checking the Earthcam cameras and the area is sealed off. I was in the city today and signs on the bqe said avoid midtown, multiple street closures. I heard about it on 97.1 (hip hop radio) originally, and they weren't sure at the time.

Article (nypost): "Times Square maniac was allegedly attempting suicide-by-cop"

[Pedestrian]

The cheering in New York is not universal:

These Days, You Can’t Make It Anywhere in New York, New York
By Myron Magnet
May 12, 2017 5:47 p.m. ET

. . . Mr. Bloomberg . . . held some zany urbanist notions. He pushed to reduce traffic with London-style congestion pricing, and when that effort failed, he reportedly decided to reduce the number of cars in Manhattan by slowing them maddeningly.

His administration pedestrianized Times Square, legalized rickshaws, and proliferated bike lanes. Because Mr. Bloomberg’s name is on the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health—thanks to his countless millions in donations—the mayor seemed to assume special expertise on the subject. Along with banning big sodas and limiting where New Yorkers could smoke, he tried to induce exercise by installing a raft of rental Citi Bikes.

Mayor de Blasio doubled down on this traffic eccentricity. In 2014 a taxi turning left at West 97th Street hit and killed a 9-year-old boy . . . as he was crossing with the light, holding his father’s hand. The death was an outrage, worsened by the noncriminal penalty levied on the taxi driver. He paid only a $500 fine and had his license suspended for six months . . . .

When a taxi once hit me in similar circumstances—but fortunately with no injuries—the driver didn’t even get a ticket and drove off fuming that the cops had wasted his time. The City Council has now made it a misdemeanor for a driver to hurt a walker or cyclist who has the right of way, though that should include merely hitting him. And killing or seriously injuring someone should be a felony . . . .

. . . Mr. de Blasio’s response to (the) utterly unforgivable death was to slow the city’s traffic still further, lowering speed limits from 30 to 25 miles an hour, turning some avenues from four lanes to two, and timing the change of streetlights so as to prevent drivers from building up speed.

The result is that it now takes more than twice as long to get from uptown to midtown by cab. New York jumped from the world’s eighth-most-congested city to its third last year, according to the traffic-analyst firm Inrix. The average commuter spent the equivalent of two entire workweeks in traffic jams, and the city overall lost $16.9 billion in time, fuel and so on.

Mr. de Blasio has launched a Swedish-style campaign for “Vision Zero,” a call to end traffic fatalities. Motorist deaths fell last year, to 67 from 81 in 2015, but deaths of pedestrians and cyclists in car crashes rose, to 162 from 153. One campaign ad states that “78% of pedestrian injuries and fatalities happen in a crosswalk”—to which the logical retort is that it’s time for tougher traffic policing. Yet the snail’s pace of cars also seems to play a part, since I now witness frustrated drivers ignoring red lights—something I never saw before in Gotham.

Moreover, what is the rationale for the bike lanes, which in residential neighborhoods seem to be used almost entirely by delivery boys? Citi Bikers shuttle mostly between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square or the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and half their trips last less than 10 minutes (and 98% less than 45 minutes), according to New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation . . . . Mayor Bloomberg’s wild-eyed traffic commissioner even proposed recently to pedestrianize Fifth Avenue in midtown.

. . . rip out Times Square’s pedestrian mall (rarely full), rip out most of the bike lanes and evict Citi Bike, while policing vigilantly to keep pedestrians safe. New York isn’t reserved for young people on bicycles. It’s also for businesspeople and old people, who take cabs (and now Ubers and Lyfts) when they can’t take the subway—and who pay a lot of the city’s taxes.

Mr. Magnet is editor at large of City Journal and author of “The Founders at Home” (W.W. Norton, 2013).

https://www.wsj.com/articles/these-d...ork-1494625623