The popular pedestrian plazas in Times Square—scourge of the New York Post—have not been good for the nearby Restaurant Row, restaurateurs on the storied strip say. So now they'd like some bright lights, please!
"The problem is, Times Square has taken business away from us—period," grumbles James Marchignoli, owner of La Rivista Ristorante, Broadway Joe Steakhouse and Bistecca Fiorentina. To try and bring them back to 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenue, the Times Square Alliance is looking to install "fancy signs and solar-powered lighting at the corners" as bait. Because nothing attracts a tourist like bright lights!
"Will a sign help? It may. But when Times Square closed traffic and opened cafes and mobile carts, that stopped traffic on this side. Business is going the other way, and there are so many chains, Bubba Gump, Olive Garden, there are so many more places over there—it’s like Disneyland," Marchignoli moaned, echoing a decades-old complaint, to the Post.
Right now the Alliance is still in the planning stages on the project, though it has presented them publicly to Community Board 4. Basically they want new lights and "fork-shaped maps listing the row's 34 restaurants." Can't hurt? It isn't like the strip can host a Taste of Times Square on a daily basis.
