This street has the potential to become one of the most culturally important in urban America. ("Architecture View: A Palace for a New Magic Kingdom," Herbert Muschamp, New York Times: May 11, 1997.)

"I'm just trying to make a living. The police should be arresting these people selling drugs and turning tricks, not people selling merchandise...Well, you're right, they're trying to make a living too." Street Vendor (Glenn Ligon 42nd Street Focus Group)

But what is glaringly absent from the new Times Suare is...ART. 42nd Street needs a forum for artists to connect mass media, popular entertainment and economic forces to the contemporary urban condition. It lacks the awareness and creativity that these artists represent. ("Architecture View: A Palace for a New Magic Kingdom," Herbert Muschamp, New York Times: May 11, 1997.)

"The city doesn't want us out here, the tourists don't want us out here. They treat us like criminals, like we should all be over at Riker's or something. If they had jobs for some of these people out here we'd be coming here to go to work, not to hang out." Eddie (Glenn Ligon 42nd Street Focus Group)

"Twenty million people walk through Times Square every year, we don't want them to walk with their eyes down, trying not to see the pornography. We have them looking up again," Andrea Schwan. ("Artful Twist on 42nd Street," David Hinckley, Daily News: July 18, 1993.)

"Some critics of the UDC have argued that police patrols have purposely been cut back to encourage the disorder and heighten the urgency of doing something.'" ("Art Plays a Bit Part On 42nd Street," Hugh Lindgren, The Metropolis: October, 1993.)

" Forty-second Street reflects the determination of some energetic and enlightened public servants who fought hard to prevent the street from turning into a granite corporate canyon. If this street had stars in the sidewalk, some of them should be inscribed with the names of Rebecca Robertson, Cora Cahan, Gretchen Dykstra, Robert A. M. Stern, Tibor Kalman and Hugh Hardy -- the group of public officials and design professionals responsible for guiding the street's redevelopment." ("Architecture View: A Palace for a New Magic Kingdom," Herbert Muschamp, New York Times: May 11, 1997)

"The UDC pushed forward doggedly, grasping at straws to justify its vision of a civilized Times Square. Noting that The Gap at 42nd and Seventh was doing excellent business, Rebecca Robertson told New York Newsday last year that just the way Harrod's is a tourist attraction in London, the Gap can be a tourist attraction in Times Square.'" ("Art Plays a Bit Part On 42nd Street," Hugh Lindgren, The Metropolis: October, 1993.)

"They should move those sex shops to a special district-like down on Canal Street or something. I think they bring the whole are down." John French (Glenn Ligon 42nd Street Focus Group)

"It's that way in Times Square and though I hate to see it change, it is changing. For all its filth and gaudery. I've always found Times Square a fragile environment, delicate because of its semi-squalor and because it's the one sector of New York, and one of the few places in this country, where sexual appetite, at least in the mercantile sense, is fully expressed." (Glenn Ligon 42nd Street Focus Group)

"'All that blight, all that obscenity is going to be gone,' Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said. 'We're going to re-create the old Times Square,' he said, 'trying to keep that slightly eccentric, magnificently artful excitement and thrilling variety of the old Times Square.'" ("Choreographing Times Square Into 21st Century," David W. Dunlap, New York Times: September 19, 1993.)

"Activity. That is what is related to what Times Square has always been. It's been the center of the gaudiest, most aggressive-most active city in the world. It shouldn't lose that. It's not worth it. I don't care how much rent they can collect. Unless the original character is restored, it would be like tearing down the Old Penn Station. it would be sad." (Glenn Ligon 42nd Street Focus Group)