Regenerating or destroying times square?

November 16, 1986|By Philip Lentz, Chicago Tribune

Every few years, politicians take another stab at rooting out the pimps, the peep shows, the hustlers and the drug dealers from what New Yorkers immodestly call ``the crossroads of the world.``

But this time there is a new twist: Community activists are trying to block the latest plan.

It`s not so much that they want to preserve the seedy character of what is perhaps the most recognizable, if downtrodden, landmark in New York City. It`s that they are concerned that the alternative would be much worse.

They contend the latest plan, a $2 billion retail-hotel-office project that would revamp the most blighted and dangerous strip of 42d Street, would turn Times Square into a sterile canyon of high-rise office buildings, devoid of the pizazz and excitement that has made it a draw for tourists.

``Times Square has always been glitz, lights and a little bit of sleaze, a place to walk and see the sights,`` said Joyce Matz, a community activist.

``If you allow this development to continue, you will kill that spirit.``

Like Piccadilly Circus in London, the Left Bank in Paris or the Spanish Steps in Rome, Times Square is in many ways the heart of New York City. It traditionally is where people gather to celebrate big events: New Year`s, the end of a war or a World Series victory.

Perhaps that is because for many, Times Square symbolizes New York

--aggressive and vibrant--with its garish neon signs, huge theater marquees, electronic news bulletins, panhandlers, three-card monte con artists, sex shops, sidewalk preachers and pinball arcades.

``It`s one of the great squares of the world,`` said Kent Barwick, president of the Municipal Art Society, a leading defender of Times Square.

``It might be tacky, there might be areas adjacent to it that aren`t safe, but it`s a place that has some meaning to people. How many songs are there about 6th Avenue?``

But Times Square also includes some of the more dangerous blocks in the city. More than one-fifth of all arrests in Manhattan occur in the police precinct that covers it.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-11-16/news/8603260122_1_times-square-electronic-news-bulletins-pinball-arcades