Lets pretend that whatever idea you have gets implemented.
So here would be my 1st endeavor as super mayor.
Times Square is over crowded. Even when they complete the pedestrian stuff there will be way more people than needed to support a lively atmosphere and drive business. I wondered to myself what these people were actually doing. There is simply not enough things to do in Times Square to support the amount of people going there. I would push for another location for a times square type place in another part of the island. Even if this place pull 25% of the crowd it would be enough to drive massive business. South Street seaport area could work realistically, but since in this scenario I get whatever I want I would take all of 2 bridges area.
Yep. I would turn the entire area between the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge into a leisure/ commercial retail. We would need to improve transit to that location, but it would be ideal for people in lower manhattan and brooklyn to get to. Also the area is woefully underdeveloped so I would be able to get rid of alot of crap. The area would be associated with one of the world most Iconic landmarks (Brooklyn bridge) and in the shadow of WTC. Some of the nicer older buildings would convert nicely to pubs and such, everything else must burn.
There would be not restrictions on anything zoning wise. If a dev wants to plaster the building with giant led screens, so be it. If the dev things it is a good idea to building a 1700 foot tower, more power to them. But as the all powerful super mayor I would ensure the infrastructure exist to make it work. Offer some tax rebates for retail space, theaters, and general leisure attractions to get the ball rolling, and then let the free market do its thing.
This would make Lower Manhattan more attractive without sending herds of tourist into the financial district and such. There would be a net gain of tourism, Times Square may lose some people, but I am pretty sure it could lose about 30% of the crowd and not feel the pain. Send that 30% down here, then add some people who would come here but not times square based on location and you have a total net gain. It would also boost tourism in Chinatown and Little Italy, but I bet east Village would be pissed off by all of the addition tourist coming down this direction.
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Diverting tourists from Times Square is tough. The first place tourists think of when they think of NYC is probably Times Square. The bright lights from all the billboards represents the city that never sleeps, the crowds represent the crossroads of the world. It’s more symbolic than anything else.
If I were super-mayor, I’d create bus lanes for any crosstown bus routes that don’t already have them and enforce it tightly. All those buses weaving in and out of traffic cause so much congestion and slows everything down.
Implement congestion pricing for Manhattan below 59th Street. There’s no need to drive and clog up the roadways when we have such an extensive public transportation system. Commercial vehicles would be exempt. There would probably be other exceptions too for certain scenarios where people must drive. I may also have to be super-governor too for this item to pass.
I’d:
(1) extend B’Way Blvd to the Battery;
(2) build Vision42 and expand Vision42 to encompass 34th and 57th Streets;
(3) Close the FDR and make it parkland and would raze the elevated portion downtown;
(4) tear down MSJ and rebuild Penn Station as it existed;
(5) eliminate at least one lane of traffic on every avenue, double the width of the sidewalks and would add extensive landscaping.
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I like all except having Vision 42 encompass 34th Street. If you close down 34th, 42nd and 57th, we have no crosstown truck routes between 23rd and 59th Street. The streets in between are not that wide so it’s probably not a good idea to divert all the through trucks on to those streets. 34th is the best to maintain since it connects the Lincoln Tunnel with the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.
Can I be your campaign manager?
I love to most especially see vision 42 come into fruition.
@kenny285
I strongly agree with the need of congestion pricing.
VG,
I’d also encourage public nudity for women 35 and under!
I think that can already happen so long as there is some form of art aspect in it. There was that bodypainting festival a couple of days ago which people got nude but had body paint on them.
The Times Square girls are almost there. Body paint and thongs. Many are of Latina origin.
AMERICA!!!
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2327212.1439687412!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/naked16n-18-web.jpg
This is art. Beauty. A homage to the natural beauty that is the female body, and NY knows how to express it.
But there’s a trade off. Then there’s this guy…
Must be on some good drugs this next one.
I’m pleased to see that the Painted Ladies have returned to Times Sq.
I like your thinking, lad!
I would landmark all structures built before WW2 and rezone everything else to encourage more density.
I would legalize marijuana, gambling, prostitution, and polygamy.
Sell all of the NYCHA assets to private developers.
I’m not sure of what the exact gun laws are, but I’d make it easier for everyone to be armed.
I would bring an NL baseball team back to Brooklyn.
I would build an NFL stadium for the Giants and Jets in Manhattan.
Move MSG and rebuild Penn Station as it existed (like Robert said)
Rename Hudson Boulevard, “Bloomberg Boulevard” in honor of the great mayor/cheerleader who steered this city in the right direction after 9/11.
I like everything but the guns, Lion. Other than that, good list!
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I forgot to add that the new stadium for the Giants/Jets would be located on the current site of the Javits convention center.
I am in love with the idea of building a giant convention center in Sunnyside, Queens and razing Javits!
I would compromise on the guns if I could get the rest of it!
But in that case, I would like to increase the number of armed police officers in the city.
The stuff going on in Paris, Brussels, etc. terrifies me.
In the ideal world, I’d have parkland on the Javits site.
you say that but 20 years ago no one was going to TS at least not like know. If you created another must see leisure district it would likely pull some people away.
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Pedestrianize all of Broadway from 59th street to Union Sq (possibly even lower than that).
Building owners have only 6-9 months to put in new retail tenants into their retail space when old tenants move out after a rent hike. After this grace period, the landlords are charged a very large fine (that increases every 6 months the space stays empty).
Many landlords across the city prefer to simply rent and put up construction sheds around their buildings instead of fixing facade problems. This leads to a proliferation of unnecessary construction sheds everywhere that ruin the cityscape and streetscape (in many cases, for years!!). (Not to mention that businesses also suffer, as it detracts from the retail usually found at the base of buildings). I would make it prohibitively expensive for landlords to do this for more than 9 months, by tacking on fees that also increase incrementally.
I would crackdown on littering on the streets and in the subways. One or two years of very hard enforcement (with $200-300 fines for each offense) would do absolute wonders in my opinion. The word would surely quickly get out that littering in NYC is a huge no-no!. (And our subways would be incredibly more livable).
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That would be great. We really don’t need so much cars in the small island of Manhattan.
Congestion pricing would do the trick!
Pedestrianize and connect via:
14th Street Union Sq to Highline to Hudson Boulevard to Vision 42nd Street to Times Sq to Central Park via Broadway.
Or… Just Pedestrianize the entire Broadway creating mini parks a la Hudson Boulevard.
Don’t forget encouraging female nudity!!! Have any of you ever been to the English Garden in Munich?
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