One place we're glad we are not going to be on New Year's Eve is New York City. Their security precautions, even if necessary, make it sound more like a prelude to Soylent Green than a festive occasion. From the news article:

As part of the measures, low-flying planes and helicopters will be banned from the area, manhole covers will be welded shut, and garbage cans, newspaper vending machines and mailboxes will be removed from street corners, a police official said. Snipers will be posted on rooftops, heavily armed groups of officers known as Hercules Teams will patrol the area along with thousands of uniformed officers, and hundreds of plainclothes officers will mix with the crowd, officials said.

The police will draw a tight perimeter around the city, with increased truck checkpoints and stepped-up Harbor Unit patrols on waterways. In addition to the Homeland Security air patrols, the Police Department's eight helicopters will be in the air, including a sophisticated new one with a powerful video camera that can give commanders on the ground an eye in the sky, officials said.

The police will use Sanitation Department sand trucks and other vehicles to block off side streets around Times Square. And a special National Guard civil support team, trained to respond to attacks by chemical, biological and radiological weapons, will be in the area, officials said.