Recently, a food vendor was shot in Times Square. That could have been me. I’ve worked as a street vendor in Times Square for more than 20 years, and while the neighborhood has come a long way, the truth is that it is still not safe enough. If we want to keep our city thriving, we need to get serious about public safety in Times Square.
When I started selling clothing on the corner of 45th and Broadway in 1998, Times Square wasn’t the family-friendly tourist hotspot that it is today. Back then, the area had a rough reputation — people called it seedy and dangerous. As a former Navy airman and a veteran of the Vietnam War, I could handle the neighborhood’s rougher crowd — but many others, tourists and New Yorkers alike, just stayed away.
