Sidewalk Hoggers between Me and My Dinner

One of my pet peeves is what I call the "sidewalk hoggers." We walk a lot in New York City. Yes, we hail yellow cabs, we ride on the subway, and we ride the bus. But generally, we don't think much about walking 15 to 20 city blocks. Naturally, sidewalks are the equivalent of highway for automobiles. You heard it right - highway. We want to get from point A to point B as quickly as we can. We walk on narrow sidewalks, swiftly navigating through foot traffic, artfully maneuvering through crosswalks, traffic signals and yellow cabs. Oh, and in many touristy areas, we run into the "sidewalk hoggers."

You cannot miss the "sidewalk hoggers." Usually its a family of 4 or 5, or sometimes even more. They walk 4 across (or more) on the sidewalk - pretty much take up the whole width of the sidewalk. The problem is, they are typically walking at leisurely speed, taking in the bright lights big city scene. My Baby M can walk faster than these guys; and she just barely learned how to walk. As for me, I'm late for a meeting with a client on 45th Street but I can't pass and go around the "sidewalk hoggers" because they are blocking all lanes!!! Arghhh!!

It doesn't help that my office is located in the epicenter of Tourist Central (aka Times Square). I have to fight the crowd - tourists - as I come and go from the office. When its 8:30pm and the only thing that's slowing me from my dinner is the tourists, well, I'm not a happy camper.

It is nothing personal - I welcome our guests to the great City of New York. Last year alone, New York City welcomed a record breaking 52 million tourists. According to the city, tourists "generated an estimated $55.3 billion in economic impact to the city’s economy, with direct spending reaching $36.9 billion." So as a New Yorker, I welcome them to our great city. I thank each and everyone of the 52 million, for visiting and willing to spend money on overpriced goods and services. But when they stand between myself and my destination - well, they are not my best of friends.

Back to the "sidewalk hoggers." A four-lane highway typically means that slower traffic yield to the faster traffic by staying on the right lane. Remember what I said about sidewalks being the equivalent of highway for New Yorkers? Well, here too, we would like to have slower traffic yield to the side and allow the faster traffic to pass.

Oh, and by the way; its is not cool to suddenly stop in middle of the sidewalk without any warning, just because you want to take a picture with Naked Cowboy. No one in their right mind would stop the car in middle of a highway just to take picture of a burning car on the side street. I'm quite sure that's a moving violation - (or stopping violation)?