Hello, I'm City Journal editor Brian Anderson.

Thanks for joining us for the 10 Blocks podcast featuring urban policy and cultural commentary

with City Journal editors, contributors, and special guests.

New York City's Times Square, the self-proclaimed crossroads of the world, is the top

destination for tourists hoping for the quintessential Gotham experience. What most visitors,

and even many New Yorkers, don't realize, is that for much of the

second part of the 20th century, Times Square was a major hub for all sorts of distasteful and

criminal activity. Pornographic movie theaters, prostitution, drugs, and violence were an all-too-commonmonmonmonmonmon in

Midtown Manhattan until the 1990s.

After years of reform, including the implementation of Broken Windows policing,

most of the X-rated businesses and disorder has been replaced by Disney stores,

dancing performers, and nearly 60 million visitors in 2015.

Last year, however, a new controversy kicked off renewed debate about how to improve Times Square. Dozens of men, dressed in large costumes,

were arrested around the plaza for starting fights and harassing tourists for tips. In addition,

the appearance of Topla's body-painted women, known as Des Nudas,

created a firestorm in New York's tabloids

and even caused the governor to issue a call for action.

With a record-setting scores of pedestrian squeezing by hot dog cards,

bad art vendors, and panhandling costume characters,

this problem has left New York with one question.

Is there a better way to manage the city's most valuable piece of real estate?

Joining us today to discuss the state of Times Square is John Tierney.

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