Rudy Giuliani, the Wall Street marketrnbuster. There’s no serious challenge tornthe unctuous and hypocritical socialismrnof the Democratic establishment Dinkinsrnfronted. The national picture, ofrncourse, is not much different, althoughrnat the time of my arrest I had no way ofrnknowing that I was being treated, in therncrowd outside the Garden, to a previewrnof the Clinton administration’s vauntedrnFirst Hundred Days: abortion, governmentrncrushing business, transvestites.rnNew York is dying; businesses are fleeingrndaily. The long-entrenched liberalrngoverning establishment is fast accomplishingrnthe final outcome of its classwarfarernrhetoric: New York will soon bernsafe from businessmen, if from nothingrnelse.rnRobert Spencer writes from the Bronx.rnLetter FromrnTimes Squarernby T. Padraig HigginsrnProperty Owners Under AssaultrnIt should be a property owner’s dream.rnThirteen acres in the heart of America’srnlargest city, bordered by two of its mostrnprominent streets, Broadway and 42ndrnStreet. Famous shopping and tourist attractionsrnare all within walking distance.rnBroadway theaters, Fifth Avenue, thernEmpire State Building, Rockefeller Center,rnMadison Square Garden. Majorrntransportation hubs like the Port Authorityrnbus terminal and the New YorkrnCity Subway lines move people in andrnout all day and night. Pedestrian footrntraffic is in the millions. It’s an unparalleledrnopportunity for gainful use of property:rna dream come true.rnInstead, it is a nightmare. Thirteen ofrnthe nastiest acres in the Rotten Apple,rnwith most of the buildings on 41st andrn42nd Street boarded up and padlockedrnbetween Broadway and 8th Avenue. Ofrnthe handful of stores still open, the overwhelmingrnmajority are selling pornography.rnAt all hours of the day and night,rnlunatics and vagrants belligerently panhandlernfor money, drink cheap liquor,rnand urinate openly in the street. Crackrncocaine is hawked to passersby. Andrnhere’s the crowning insult: some of thernpadlocked storefronts have been givenrnover to “artists,” like the infamous KarenrnFinley, who have added their ownrn”works” regarding—what else preoccupiesrnthe intelligentsia these days?—sex,rnsodomy, and AIDS. Thus, shutteredrntheaters nevertheless have “messages”rnon their marquees, such as “DeviantsrnAre Sacrificed to Increase Group Solidarity,”rn”Raise Boys and Girls the SamernWay,” and “Murder Has Its Sexual Side.”rnWhat calamity gave rise to thisrnwasteland? A force more powerful andrndestructive to property owners than hurricanes,rnearthquakes, or war: the government.rnIn this case, it was the State ofrnNew York’s Urban Development Corporationrn(the “UDC”), and the havoc wasrnwrought through its 42nd Street RedevelopmentrnProject.rnLike virtually all meddlesome and illfatedrngovernment plans, the project wasrnconceived with the best of intentions.rnThe southern end of Times Square hasrnreflected the baser aspects of society’srnills since the I950’s, when the first proposalsrnfor government action were made.rnAs with earlier proposals, the projectrnsought to drive out the petty pornographyrnshops and close down the movierntheaters that predominantly showed Xratedrnfeatures and “action” movies.rnThose movie screens were located inrnbeautiful old theaters that had oncernbeen among the most prominent onrnBroadway, and the UDC wanted themrnput back to their original use. Only arngovernment agency could fail to see that,rnwhen it comes to artistic merit, AndrewrnLloyd Webber’s Cats and Bruce Lee’srnEnter the Dragon are first cousins. Thernproject contemplated the constructionrnof mammoth skyscrapers, adding overrnfour million square feet of office space.rnA new hotel with over 500 rooms wasrnplanned, along with a 20-story, 2.4 million-rnsquare-foot “Wholesale Mart” forrncomputers and apparel. Improvementsrnwould be made to the abysmal TimesrnSquare subway stations, which interiockrnin a confusing and dangerous labyrinthrnfor blocks on end. Seasoned New Yorkersrnlearn to ignore or decipher the oldrnsigns that still direct the unwary to thernBMT, the IRT, and the IND—thernnames of the independently owned linesrnthat preceded the current unified systemrnsome 55 years ago. A wrong turnrndown a passageway at the wrong hourrncan lead to a dead end and a young manrnwith a gun seeking to relieve you of yourrnwallet.rnThroughout the I980’s, those 13 acresrnof Times Square were not dominated byrnpadlocks and shutters. The storefrontsrnwere all in use, though admittedly not allrnthe stores were suitable for children andrndiscerning adults. Then, as now, shopsrnselling pornography and sexual paraphernaliarnwere prominent, well-lighted,rnand open for business. The difference isrnthat so were other businesses. Therernwere delicatessens and takeout stores,rnand some of their signs can still be seenrnover the boarded-up doorways: Bill’srnGyros, Tad’s Steaks, Palasan Grocery,rnPapaya World, and Fiorentino the Kingrnof Pizza. There was Maniak ShakrnElectronics, One-Hour Framing Shop,rnForsythe Books, Western Grocery &rnDeli, even Readings by Ann, a fortuneteller.rnThe old Broadway theaters thatrnhad been converted to movie houses—rnthe Lyric, the Apollo, the Times Square,rnplus others—predominantly showedrnpornography and action films, but theyrnalso showed the most recent mainstreamrnHollywood films. There were businesses,rnsome involved in the garment industry,rnwhere people came to work every day.rnTimes Square was loud, busy, smutty,rnseedy, crowded, exciting, even dangerousrnand in need of more cops walking thernbeat—but it was not boarded up.rnThen came the government. Withrnthe righteous fervor common to 19thcenturyrnmissionaries and 20th-centuryrnsocial workers, the project was hatched.rnIn 1984 public hearings were held, givingrnrise to one of those surreal moments thatrnreally happen only in Nevy York: GovernorrnMario Cuomo, Mayor Ed Koch, andrnNew York gossip column swells like designerrnDiane Von Furstenberg and actorrnAnthony Quinn taking turns at the microphonernpoliticking for the project.rnGovernor Cuomo gave a speech thatrnwould have made Lenin proud, quotingrnfrom the 1939 W.P.A. Guide to NewrnYork and extolling government progress.rnHe predicted that within seven years,rnthe project would “restore Times Square,rnrejuvenating its physical surroundings,rnredeeming its soul.” Maybe Mariornshould have left predicting the futurernto Readings by Ann. And Miss VonrnFurstenberg, whose expertise was heretoforernbelieved to be limited to pleats andrnthe resiliency of taffeta, waxed eloquentrnon massive government planning withrnlANUARY 1994/33rnrnrn