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Video: People Loving Car-Free Broadway, Defying Post's Peyser
By
John Del Signore
Published May 29, 2009
Modified May 29, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 29, 2009
Modified May 29, 2009
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On Wednesday, frothing New York Post demagogue Andrea Peyser dropped her instant-classic diatribe against the new car-free pedestrian plazas on Broadway, deriding those European tourists who flocked to the open space while finding solidarity with... one homeless man. Joe Miller, who Peyser says "carried his earthly possessions in plastic bags" also shares the columnist's hatred for any human challenge to the automobile's supremacy: "It's terrible. I live in the streets. People smoke in the shelters! I can't stand it."
Opinions On A Car-Free Times Square from ANIMALnewyork.com on Vimeo.
Anyway, the rant inspired Animal NY to "hit the streets to speak to the people, the ones sitting in all that 'cheapo furniture' the philippic pundit railed against. As it turns out, the locals love it and the tourists are in heaven, despite being forced to sit in temporary plastic chairs like plebeians." Indeed, as this funny video shows, many New Yorkers are relishing the opportunity to take in Times Square in this new (temporary?) autonomous zone. One lounger even predicts: "It's inevitable for all this to be shut down." Unfortunately, Peyser is sure to shrug off the glowing reviews because one comes from a European—a Frenchman, no less, who actually says such a change would never happen in Paris!
Tagged
broadway
car ban
new
nyc
pedestrian plaza
video
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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