Since before it was even named Times Square, “the lower portion of the bowtie-shaped traffic islands formed by the diagonal intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, between Forty-second and Forty-seventh streets,” had been an entertainment center (Reichl 1999). It was home to a great number of theaters from the mid-to-late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, many of which later replaced live performances with the more-profitable movies (Reichl 1999). Even as financial crises drove New York City into economic decline in the 1960s through the 1970s, Times Square served as a place where illicit entertainment services such as prostitution could flourish (Reichl 1999 and Delany 1999). While many praised the “Disneyfication” of Times Square in the 1990s, others, including Samuel R. Delany, saw some of its resulting issues (Reichl 1999 and Delany 1999). Times Square had served as a public space in which many marginalized people felt comfortable to be themselves, but the development that transformed Times Square further marginalized these people, moving them to the waterfront (Delany 1999).
At the heart of the conflict over what to do with the 1970s Times Square was a dispute over what is meant by public space, and furthermore what people can do in this space. Is a public space an area in which everyone can freely express himself or herself? Or is a public space a place where safety trumps freedom of expression?
Although Times Square has retained its status as an entertainment center since its transformation beginning in the 1980s, the concept of a public space has changed. During the 1970s, Times Square was a public space in which people could freely express themselves, especially marginalized groups like homosexuals (Delany 1999). However, during this era many people felt that Times Square was not a safe place, though those who often visited the area knew how to avoid trouble (Delany 1999). Those who felt Times Square was unsafe only saw Times Square’s homelessness, prostitution, illegal drugs, and violent crime, pushing for its transformation into a safer area and the “Disneyfication” of Times Square in the 1990s that turned it into a tourist attraction accomplished that goal (Reichl 1999). Today, Times Square has become a place where safety trumps freedom of expression. Reacting to Mayor Bill De Blasio’s 2015 suggestion to remove pedestrian plazas in Times Square, columnist Aaron Betsky writes that “in a true public space you might find yourself confronted by others not like you. You might be offended by something or somebody, or by some behavior that is not familiar, like in the case of the current controversy, exposed female breasts. It is where you might encounter sex or violence. It is where state violence meets public resistance on those rare occasions when regulation and repressions becomes so evident as to evoke revolt” (Betsky 2015). In short, public space is meant to have “an element of danger” (Betsky 2015). He goes on to say that “to [him], the heavily policed precincts of Times Square are not true public space. They are performance arenas, a free and low-quality extension of the museums and theaters that are so much of New York’s attraction. They are staged. Regulations and policing have removed all danger and all ‘otherness’ from the sphere” (Betsky 2015). At some point during its transformation, Times Square lost its character as a public space.
If De Blasio were to remove the plazas from Times square and thus “remove Times Square as a tourist attraction” and “give it back to the city and its inhabitants,” it would “force visitors to crowd on sidewalks again, where they cannot avoid panhandlers, pickpockets, or rubbing shoulders with office workers and delivery people going out on their business. They will see real people of all races, degrees of decorum, and income levels” (Betsky 2015). Times Square would no longer be the tourist destination that creates “a Disney version of Manhattanism,” but an honest display of New York City (Betsky 2015).
Sources:
Betsky A (2015) Times Square and the Reality of Public Spaces.
http://www.architectmagazine.com/design/times-square-and-the-reality-of-public-spaces_o (last accessed 16 March 2018)
Delany S R (1999) Times Square Red Times Square Blue. New York and London: New York University Press.
Reichl A J (1999) Reconstructing Times Square: Politics and Culture in Urban Development. Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
