1 Million Expected in Times Square Tonight

By Jeralyn, Section Off Topic
Posted on Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 05:03:53 PM EST
Tags: New Year's Eve (all tags)

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A record one million people are expected in Times Square tonight to celebrate the new year. Mayor Bloomberg says people will be safer there than any other place Here are the logistics:

Police will control access to Times Square, closing streets to vehicles beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Anyone wishing to enter the "core area" will be required to pass through metal detectors first, and then be corralled into viewing sections.

Once one section has filled, new arrivals will be directed to the next viewing section. Backpacks, large bags and alcohol will be prohibited. There are also no public bathrooms in the "core area."

As for security,

Regular police units will be supplemented by emergency service squads, drug- and bomb-sniffing canine units, counter-terrorism personnel and the FBI. Representatives of New York's Office of Emergency Management and Fire Department will be in the square, and police in helicopters will monitor the skies and rooftops.

I don't doubt it will be safe, but I'd still rather watch it on tv than be there.

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1 Million Expected in Times Square Tonight | 6 comments (6 topical)

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I was (none / 0) (#1)
by aw on Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 05:06:35 PM EST

there yesterday. It was bad enough then.

it's not worth the effort (none / 0) (#2)
by scribe on Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 05:34:05 PM EST

I suppose if someone stops to take a leak in one of the toilet-free core areas, they'll get busted for urinating in public or, if they get lippy, indecent exposure (which probably puts them on the sex offender list...).

I long for the pre-Disnified days, when Times Square was authentic. Rough, dirty, and all that, but authentic. For the way it is today we can all thank Rudy Thuggiani who, in effect, traded zoning and real estate concessions for free publicity and goodwill from the media empires now pimping his (and other Rethugs') bids for office. Fencing in crowds and filling areas one after another are just plain lame. An idea worse than festival seating at a Who concert, if you ask me.

Happy New Year. I'll be asleep by the time it gets to my time zone....

: I hear that scribe.... (none / 0) (#9)
by kdog on Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 08:22:13 AM EST

they may as well drop the ball at Disneyworld.
You couldn't pay me to go to Times Square on New Years and deal with all that hassle. I'd imagine it's quite difficult to have a celebratory new years smoke in the "core area". Is it a party or a holding pen?

New Years (none / 0) (#3)
by ProgressiveRick on Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 05:35:16 PM EST

Been there a few years ago. Felt very safe, just WAY too many people and once you get loaded into a caged off area, you are stuck there or else you will not be able to get back in. Take a pit stop before going.

Probably a once in a lifetime thing. Just to experience it. Makes seeing it on TV more enjoyable.

The Deuce! Forty-second Street... (none / 0) (#4)
by bx58 on Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 06:19:27 PM EST

Anyone who longs for the good ol days of the deuce is crazy. Toots and chickens and roving mobs of panhandlers/muggers everywhere,dirty old men in trench coats was the uniform of the day down there.

Rudy did a public service moving that stuff to the outlying areas. He sure as hell didn't get rid of it.

I went down there but never got close to the ball dropping,too many people.

My Best New Year's Eve in a Crowd (none / 0) (#10)
by Randinho on Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 04:50:11 PM EST

My best experience in a crowd on New Year's Eve was on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on December 31, 1999. It was peaceful, beautiful and colorful. I'll never forget it.