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As Times Square rebounds from the pandemic and welcomes the world back, we are also experiencing some key challenges that threaten our full recovery. The decriminalization of quality-of-life offenses has led to a sharp uptick in people with mental illnesses and substance abuse challenges roaming Times Square’s streets. Meanwhile, fewer employees are coming to Times Square every day, meaning fewer patrons for our local businesses, and commercial office space vacancy continues to increase as leasing remains slow.
These factors together have already had a negative impact on working in, visiting, and doing business in Times Square.
The good news is that there are concrete steps that our local government and elected officials can take to alleviate our five core areas of concern. The Alliance and our stakeholders are ready to support and help.
Quality of Life Issues
Problems proliferate when we tolerate them — not enforcing against quality-of-life offenses results in more disorder, and often, higher levels of crime. Enforcing order has greatly benefitted Times Square, and has shown promising results in the subways and other New York City neighborhoods like Brownsville, as described recently in this Daily News article: Crime, violence drop in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where NYPD cracks down on quality of life offenses
We thank the New York City Police Department and the Adams administration for their commitment to Times Square. The NYPD has increased enforcement which has led to much lower levels of crime, BUT the very real disorder now feeding public insecurity demands different solutions.
We need consistent, committed quality of life enforcement throughout the district. Individuals who commit quality of life and low-level offenses may benefit from diversion programs and other alternatives to incarceration, which we would greatly support. However, allowing these offenses to occur absent any accountability degrades the neighborhood and threatens our ability to fully recover and continue to be a primary economic driver for all of New York City.
Mental Health
Absent proactive intervention by mental health professionals, many people on our streets have become more aggressive, leaving our visitors, patrons, and employees feeling increasingly insecure.
Mayor Adams and his Senior Advisor for Severe Mental Illness, Brian Stettin, have outlined a Psychiatric Crisis Care Legislative Agenda. Specifically, NY Assembly bill A-7827 adds tools to the toolbox for assisting those with severe mental illness, including increasing the number of professionals who can assess the mentally ill, clarifying the definition of “harm to self” to include the inability to meet basic health needs so more people can be evaluated and placed on a road to treatment, and mandating more thorough clinical evaluations and plans of care for individuals with serious mental illness in emergency rooms. We need to lobby and advocate with our state representatives to pass this bill.
We also need our city officials to fund expanded safe haven beds and secure additional supportive housing so we can ramp up treatment options for individuals in need on our streets.
Open Drug Use and Illegal Cannabis Stores
The Council decriminalized the possession of hypodermic needles, removing the NYPD’s prior ability to test hypodermics to determine if an individual possessed an illegal substance, a prosecutable offense. The ability to use hypodermic needles in public, coupled with leniency regarding drug use, has led to unchecked open drug use on our streets. We need to lobby our city and state representatives to prohibit the injection of any substance in public absent a prescription.
In addition, in 2019, New York State legalized marijuana, and its public consumption. However, the state allowed several years to pass between legalization and the creation of a legal sale and distribution system. This delay created a robust market for illegal weed stores, and the law’s weak enforcement provisions have made closing these businesses very difficult. On December 28, 2022, Times Square had 2 illegal weed stores, today we have 11. One of these illegal stores was robbed, our two homicides this year occurred within 100 feet of the illegal weed store at 43rd and 8th Avenue, and there was a shooting at a store 50 feet from our district. These stores are a problem, and one that is increasing.
There are two concrete actions, one at the city level and one at the state, that would significantly help control the operation and proliferation of these illegal businesses.
The City Council must revisit the Nuisance Abatement Law, which was amended in 2017 so judges may not order premises closed if an owner is charged with illegal conduct. This should be amended to allow judges to immediately issue a closure order when two incidents of illegal sales to minors occur in the same location. The Alliance has shared possible language with the council, and we need to continue to lobby members to get a bill introduced.
READ THE NUISANCE ABATEMENT BILL SAMPLE
At the state level, the state legislature should grant the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) the same authority that the State Liquor Authority has to shut down establishments that sell alcohol without a license. Further, OCM needs to designate a local entity authorized to enforce the state cannabis law in New York City, which they have the power to do but have not yet done. The Sheriff has done a good job but needs more support from the NYPD. There have been 207 inspections thus far and at this rate it would take 3 years to inspect the 1700 illegal stores in our city.
SEE A MAP OF ALL ILLEGAL CANNABIS STORES AND RESTRICTED ZONES IN TIMES SQUARE
Times Square’s office buildings and daily office employees were key to the area’s renaissance in the 1990s. This sector has been significantly impacted by the post-pandemic decline in the commercial office market, and by the equally strong trend towards employees working from home.
There has been a lot of discussion around converting office space to residential use, which we strongly support. Robust residential growth south and west of Times Square offers an opportunity for Midtown West to become a true 24-hour neighborhood, which benefits our commercial office, retail, and entertainment businesses, and improves the quality of life throughout the area.
Working with consultants at HR&A, the Alliance analyzed adaptation options for some of our buildings with higher vacancy rates. We studied industries that have a demonstrated need for built space, are growing in size and scope, and who have synergy with what Times Square represents — media, culture, entertainment, and a lively, dynamic night and day environment. Key sectors such as post-production, entertainment, and gaming are obvious choices, and we have looked at what would be needed to attract them here, both in terms of cost and building specifications.
The Alliance has been actively working with one of our properties on locating a post-production hub on several floors, which could spur more activity in that sector. We are encouraged by the proposed zoning modernization in the Department of City Planning’s City of Yes plan, but the city needs to work with neighborhoods and individual buildings to develop flexible, sector specific incentives to make sure the next generation of growing industries locates in our most vibrant commercial corridors.
For more information, please review our latest commercial market analysis and the HR&A Adaptive Reuse study.
REVIEW THE TIMES SQUARE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET ANALYSIS
REVIEW THE ADAPTIVE REUSE IN TIMES SQUARE STUDY
This continued flow of asylum seekers has caused a strain on city resources. By failing to pass any kind of comprehensive immigration reform, the Federal Government has left localities with the responsibility of caring for the thousands of migrants arriving here each week.
Elected officials cannot sit silently while Mayor Adams does the heavy lifting. Further, we must revisit the well-intentioned Right to Shelter policy — enforced by consent decree but never litigated — so there are reasonable boundaries around our municipal responsibility to solve what is at its core a federal problem. This can be done at both the state and federal level. Additionally, we must advocate to expedite the ability to work legally.
We understand the intense pressure the city is under to find space to shelter this unprecedented inflow of migrants. However, as the center of New York’s tourism industry, we need our hotels open and welcoming visitors, and would urge the city to prioritize keeping rooms available in this area for the steady return of visitors.
