{"id":124558,"date":"2020-12-02T03:43:12","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T00:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/bill-de-blasios-rules-for-the-rock-center-tree-make-absolutely-no-sense\/"},"modified":"2020-12-02T03:43:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T00:43:12","slug":"bill-de-blasios-rules-for-the-rock-center-tree-make-absolutely-no-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bill-de-blasios-rules-for-the-rock-center-tree-make-absolutely-no-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"#Bill de Blasio’s rules for the Rock Center tree make absolutely no sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Bill de Blasio’s rules for the Rock Center tree make absolutely no sense<\/strong>”
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Blas is bent on ruining Midtown\u2019s Christmas.<\/p>\n

Did you really think 2020 couldn\u2019t get dumber? On Wednesday, Rockefeller Center will light its Christmas tree. That\u2019s the cue for business for Midtown\u2019s stores and eateries.<\/p>\n

The pandemic ensures crowds will be sparse, and retailers will suffer. Still, we\u2019ve all been trying to make the best of it \u2014 until Mayor de Blasio popped up Monday to say: Don\u2019t go anywhere near the place until January.<\/p>\n

For years, Hizzoner has proven that he can\u2019t handle Christmas. Every year, the city throws out junky barriers and makes pedestrians go through literal obstacle courses to get to the tree. Last year was a little better, with de Blasio succumbing to his Transportation Department\u2019s entreaties to close 49th and 50th streets to cars, giving people room.<\/p>\n

Now, de Blasio is outdoing himself, proving that he also can\u2019t handle pandemic-Christmas foot traffic. His worry is crowds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that a few more folks are walking around than were in the summer. Thanksgiving night, families took their kids to see the Saks light show across the street from the tree. It was festive, for a change. But it\u2019s nothing resembling a normal crowd \u2014 maybe, on a good day, 20 percent. Everyone wears masks, and people don\u2019t cram together.<\/p>\n

Now, de Blasio is taking what\u2019s working well enough, for 2020, and breaking it. Monday, he grimly intoned that \u201cin normal years, we all go to see\u201d the tree \u201cin person,\u201d but this year, TV \u201cis the best way to see it. .\u2009.\u2009. Anyone who wants to go in person .\u2009.\u2009. there\u2019s going to be a lot specific rules. .\u2009.\u2009. There will be a reservation system, groups of no more than four people at a time,\u201d in five-minute pods. (If you have more than two kids, you get two pods.) Fun!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s emblematic of de Blasio\u2019s general<\/a> cluelessness.<\/p>\n

The tree is not something to \u201cwatch.\u201d The mayor can\u2019t tell the difference between the lighting, which is a short event, and just going to see the tree, something people could do over another six weeks, until mid-January.<\/p>\n

It makes sense to close the lighting: A packed-in crowd, with people standing close to strangers for several hours, is hardly a good idea. But it makes no sense to force people to get tickets for casual viewing.<\/p>\n

Most of the crowd has already disapp<\/a>eared. The Rockettes show is canceled, meaning 30,000 fewer people crossing Sixth Avenue daily.<\/p>\n

Rock Center, managed by real estate group Tishman Speyer, has curtailed its skating-rink capacity, meaning hundreds of people aren\u2019t lining up.<\/p>\n

Ticketing creates a problem where none exists.<\/p>\n

It requires a perimeter, so the city will cut off through access to 49th and 50th streets, even to walkers, unless they have a ticket. On the other hand, though, the city says people can still walk partway through the block, apparently to right before the tree is visible, if they\u2019re shopping. A dead-end, and doubled-up crowds, if they do come.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t closing off a couple of blocks for a televised parade. This is closing off critical Midtown thoroughfares for more than a month. It will create conflict between the public and \u00adpolice and will further kill retail and restaurants.<\/p>\n

Consider, too: You can see the tree from Fifth Avenue as well as 51st and 48th streets.<\/p>\n

Is the city going to cut off \u00adaccess there? If not, again, if any crowd does materialize, police are just going to recreate the same old setup a couple of blocks away. And if yes, public Midtown spaces are a dead zone for the shopping season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the Channel Gardens: The city says people can walk there if they\u2019re going shopping, but not to see the tree. OK, what is the city \u2014 or Tishman \u2014 going to do, put up a big black veil?<\/p>\n

The gardens are also the only viewing spot for the Saks show, across the street.<\/p>\n

Will those spectators stand on the sidewalk, public property, and stay out of the gardens, private property?<\/p>\n

That means a more crowded sidewalk, or spectators declaring to Tishman security guards that they\u2019re \u201cshopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this, when what worked last year would work this year: Let people mill about freely on 49th and 50th, with plenty of room (and a mask). This is an outdoor activity, where people don\u2019t linger that long.<\/p>\n

As for the idea, as the mayor promised, that things will return to normal next year? Hmmm.<\/p>\n

What if Tishman Speyer likes the idea of marshalling massive policing resources to tightly control what is, in practice if not in law, an important public space, and also gather useful digital information on its visitors while they\u2019re at it? Either we have a public tree, or we don\u2019t \u2014 we don\u2019t have it both ways.<\/p>\n

Midtown isn\u2019t doing so great. But it does have some workers, visitors and residents. We\u2019re real people in a real city \u2014 not props for NBC, or for de Blasio\u2019s lectures.<\/p>\n

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor of City Journal.<\/em><\/p>\n

Twitter<\/a>: @NicoleGelinas<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Bill de Blasio’s rules for the Rock Center tree make absolutely no sense” Blas is bent on ruining Midtown\u2019s Christmas. Did you really think 2020 couldn\u2019t get dumber? On Wednesday, Rockefeller Center will light its Christmas tree. That\u2019s the cue for business for Midtown\u2019s stores and eateries. The pandemic ensures crowds will be sparse, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/12\/stefan_jeremiah_rock-center-tree006.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[82308,5042,81020,70344,4953,81023,71470],"class_list":["post-124558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-1-20","tag-bill-de-blasio","tag-christmas-in-rockefeller-center","tag-coronavirus-in-ny","tag-new-york-city","tag-rockefeller-center","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}