Times Square Roulette: Remaking the City Icon

The spectacularly successful transformation of Times Square has become a model for other cities. From its beginning as Longacre Square, Times Square?s commercialism, signage, cultural diversity, and social tolerance have been deeply embedded in New York City?s psyche. Its symbolic role guaranteed that any plan for its renewal would push the hot buttons of public controversy: free speech, property-taking through eminent domain, development density, tax subsidy, and historic preservation.