NEW YORK—After 86 years in Times Square, Macy’s has announced that its Thanksgiving Day parade will be rerouting to Sixth Avenue this fall—that is, unless the Times Square Alliance can stop it.
The alliance, a nonprofit organization that coordinates Times Square events and promotes local businesses, voted unanimously to contest Macy’s decision. Times Square Alliance president, Tim Tompkins, was joined by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and others on Thursday at the Times Square Visitors Center to explain why they think the parade should not be diverted.
“New York City is identified with Times Square, and that’s the postcard. When we have less and less money to spend on promoting New York around the world, this is a multihour advertisement for New York,” said Tompkins. He worries the tourism industry will take a hit, as well as the many businesses along Seventh Avenue that provide catering service, a room to watch the parade from, a place to stop in for a cup of coffee, and much more.
“When it comes down to dollars and cents … if you move the parade down to Sixth Avenue, there is not an economic increase, because you are basically moving it down a canyon of empty office buildings,” declared Tompkins.
Macy’s says dollars and cents come second, spectator enjoyment and safety come first.
“Macy’s officials feel that Sixth Avenue is quite simply, the safest route for the world-famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s a passage that’s both wide and straight, with none of the pinch-points, obstructions, or sharp turns that complicate Seventh Avenue. The sidewalks along Sixth Avenue are both broad and deep, while in Times Square, they are narrow and cramped,” said Macy’s spokesperson, Orlando Vegas.
“The route we need to take is really for the safety of spectators, for the greater good of spectator viewing, and commerce is secondary,” he added.
Even when it comes to the bottom line, Vegas does not think rerouting will have the impact business owners say it will. Vegas pointed out that the multitude of spectators will be but a block away, and the storefronts on Seventh Avenue will be more accessible to shoppers.
“It’s not really Macy’s parade—Macy’s is the sponsor,” asserted Mike Stengall, area vice president for the Marriott Hotel and former chairman of the Times Square Alliance.
“If the alliance here today is half right, and their arguments are 50 percent accurate, then there’s a real need not to rush to judgment,” he maintained.
Tompkins said that the deputy mayor of Economic Development and Rebuilding, Robert K. Steel, called him Thursday morning to say he would like to discuss the matter further with the alliance. In the meantime, hotel owners are saying the delay will hurt them, as they cannot use the parade to market themselves.
The alliance, a nonprofit organization that coordinates Times Square events and promotes local businesses, voted unanimously to contest Macy’s decision. Times Square Alliance president, Tim Tompkins, was joined by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and others on Thursday at the Times Square Visitors Center to explain why they think the parade should not be diverted.
“New York City is identified with Times Square, and that’s the postcard. When we have less and less money to spend on promoting New York around the world, this is a multihour advertisement for New York,” said Tompkins. He worries the tourism industry will take a hit, as well as the many businesses along Seventh Avenue that provide catering service, a room to watch the parade from, a place to stop in for a cup of coffee, and much more.
“When it comes down to dollars and cents … if you move the parade down to Sixth Avenue, there is not an economic increase, because you are basically moving it down a canyon of empty office buildings,” declared Tompkins.
Macy’s says dollars and cents come second, spectator enjoyment and safety come first.
“Macy’s officials feel that Sixth Avenue is quite simply, the safest route for the world-famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s a passage that’s both wide and straight, with none of the pinch-points, obstructions, or sharp turns that complicate Seventh Avenue. The sidewalks along Sixth Avenue are both broad and deep, while in Times Square, they are narrow and cramped,” said Macy’s spokesperson, Orlando Vegas.
“The route we need to take is really for the safety of spectators, for the greater good of spectator viewing, and commerce is secondary,” he added.
Even when it comes to the bottom line, Vegas does not think rerouting will have the impact business owners say it will. Vegas pointed out that the multitude of spectators will be but a block away, and the storefronts on Seventh Avenue will be more accessible to shoppers.
“It’s not really Macy’s parade—Macy’s is the sponsor,” asserted Mike Stengall, area vice president for the Marriott Hotel and former chairman of the Times Square Alliance.
“If the alliance here today is half right, and their arguments are 50 percent accurate, then there’s a real need not to rush to judgment,” he maintained.
Tompkins said that the deputy mayor of Economic Development and Rebuilding, Robert K. Steel, called him Thursday morning to say he would like to discuss the matter further with the alliance. In the meantime, hotel owners are saying the delay will hurt them, as they cannot use the parade to market themselves.
