December 31, 2020
The age old tradition of watching the ball drop in Times Square to ring in the New Year will be different this year. NYPD warned would-be revelers to stay home and watch the festivities on TV. At a Police Plaza news conference Wednesday Chief Terrence Monahan explained that because of the pandemic, the custom of jamming as many as a million people into the Crossroads in all kinds of weather is out of the question this year. If you come you won’t be allowed into Times Square and if you loiter around the periphery you’ll be shooed away by NY’s Finest.
“We can all agree that 2020 has been a year unlike anything we have ever experienced. #NYE in #TimesSquare and across the 5 boroughs will also look completely different. My message to those ringing in the New Year: STAY AT HOME There are no spectators allowed in Times Square.
“Let’s put 2020 in the books,” Cheif Monahan said. “2021 is coming and it’s going to be a much better year, for this city, for this country.”
Frozen zone:
Starting at 12 a.m. Thursday (NYE) W45-49th Streets, 6-8th Avenue vehicle & pedestrian traffic suspended.
From 3 p.m. Thursday zone expands to W41-49th Streets, 6-8th Avenue.
And it wouldn’t be 2020 without another line. Early voting, Covid-19 tests…this one for Zabars stretched from the shop’s entrance on Broadway around the corner and almost down to West End Avenue. Sheesh.
