Giant Experiment Has No Appreciable Benefits Beyond Creating Awesome Spot From Which To Take Pictures For Family Christmas Cards

The city finds that traffic around Times Square doesn’t really move any faster or easier now that a five-block-long stretch of Broadway has been turned into a pedestrian mall:

The city is keeping its data under tight lock and key. But two officials briefed on the data characterized the results as disappointing, and one said that traffic flow did not meet the department’s goals. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the data had not been made public.

Those goals were outlined in February, when the program was announced. The city hoped that its changes would allow drivers to travel down Seventh Avenue, from 59th to 23rd Street, up to 17 percent faster than before. A comparable northbound trip up Avenue of the Americas was expected to take up to 37 percent less time. The idea, according to Mr. Bloomberg, was that eliminating the congestion where Broadway crosses the two avenues would smooth the way for cars, allowing them to spend less time at stoplights.

. . .

The stakes are high for the city’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, who has gained worldwide attention for the plan. Ms. Sadik-Khan has taken an aggressive approach toward remaking the New York streetscape to roll back the car-centric policies stemming from the Robert Moses era and create a metropolis more friendly to pedestrians and bicycles. Her actions have earned her accolades and anger in equal measure.

Traffic data will not be the only factor in Mr. Bloomberg’s assessment of whether to continue the program, which barred vehicular traffic from Broadway between 47th and 42nd Streets, and from 35th Street to 33rd Street, creating pedestrian plazas through the heart of Times and Herald Squares. Besides the extension of green lights to expedite traffic flow, other small modifications to lanes and the street grid were made and furniture was set up to accommodate tired and hungry tourists.

Grand schemes seldom seem to provide the results politicians promise — especially flashy schemes rolled out six months before an election. So when in doubt, back down:

“Does it solve all of the problems in the city?” he added. “No.”

In other words, what do you think we’re going to do with all that new lawn furniture?

Location Scout: Times Square Pedestrian Mall.

The Real Worldization Of New York City

If you can’t moneymake a waterfront site into a money-making commercial property, try building dorms instead:

Developer Joe Sitt sent shockwaves through a monthly gathering of real estate executives on Tuesday by sharing news that he hoped to convert his waterfront land between the Ikea superstore and the Fairway supermarket into a student housing complex.

“Ask any university, they’re starving for student housing,” Sitt, the CEO of Thor Equities, told the development big wigs at the Real Estate Roundtable at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

“[It could be] quasi-residential student housing if we can tempt a nearby university.”

Location Scout: Revere Sugar Refinery.

That’s What We Were Waiting For In A Third Term!

Huge cost overruns and corrupting influences from Bloomberg gadgets:

While he made $250,000 a year from the city to devise the payroll system, CityTime, Salamone was running a full-fledged lobbying business.

During the past four years alone, he was paid another $1.4million by firms such as Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Keane Inc. and Intergraph to lobby the Bloomberg administration for additional computer contracts, city records show.

And since he is a retired city employee, Salamone, 69, also collected more than $50,000 annually in a city pension.

So how did he find all that extra moonlighting time?

A spokesman for the city’s Office of Payroll Administration, when notified of the consulting business, said Salamone never disclosed his other interests to agency chief Joel Bondy.

“While Mr. Salamone was not a city employee and did not recommend any purchases or consultant hires for [the] project, we will be reviewing the matter,” the spokesman said.

The CityTime project has ballooned from an initial price tag of $63 million in 1998 to nearly $700 million today and has fallen years behind schedule, with only about 45,000 city workers using it.

Moral Of The Story . . .

Don’t underestimate Eli Manning’s ability to come back late in the game and definitely don’t overlook David Tyree’s incredible athletic prowess in case the two connect for a game-saving pass play during the Super Bowl:

Michael Terry, 40, said he invited three neighborhood drug dealers to his Belmont Ave. apartment to smoke pot, drink beer and watch the Giants beat the Patriots on Feb. 3, 2008.

The Giants won, the four toasted the victory, and his guests refused to leave. They stayed for three days and began selling drugs out of his living room, Terry told a Bronx Supreme Court jury.

It’s Time To Go Round A One Man Showdown Teach Us How to Fail

We don’t condone it, but we understand it:

Cops are hunting for a suspect, possibly fed up over parking tickets, who may fancy himself a rubber Robin Hood.

He slashed the tires of three NYPD Parking Enforcement cars in broad daylight on Monday.

. . .

Westchester Square has gained an infamous reputation for ticket blitzes against shoppers.

Struggling merchants also complain the agents hog precious metered spots with both official vehicles and their personal ones, which never seem to get ticketed.

“I’m not surprised that frustration would run that high, and that people would attempt to lash back out at enforcement in an improper manner,” said John Bonizio, president of the Association of the Merchants and Business Professionals of Westchester Square.

“Parking violation issues are the No. 1 complaint across New York City that people have about enforcement. It’s fraud.”

Merchants said the constant ticketing is hurting their business.

“It’s killing us,” said Marco Rossetti, 33, co-owner of Frank and Joe’s Deli in Westchester Square. “It’s wrong, but I can understand his frustration.

“Truthfully, we’re not given a chance. Their office is located directly above us. The agents come down 10, 15 at a time, stand in front of my store. People that pull over don’t get a second to stop.”

Location Scout: Westchester Square.