Just weeks after calling the city's pedestrian plazas a wild success, Bill de Blasio left the door open to yanking them out.
The Democratic mayoral hopeful d who has been hot and cold on transportation issues such as bike lanes and pedestrian malls, isclosed for the first time this week that he's up in the air on the tourist-friendly plazas.
"I have profoundly mixed feelings on this issue," de Blasio said when asked about the Times Square and Herald Square plazas during Tuesday's televised debate with GOP nominee Joe Lhota.
"I'm a motorist myself, and I was often frustrated — and then I've also seen on the other hand that it does seem to have a positive impact on the tourist industry," de Blasio added. "So for me, the jury's out on that particular question."
He said he wants to study the impact of the public malls on traffic and local businesses before reaching a conclusion. "I would keep an open mind," he concluded.
De Blasio earlier also walked back a commitment to banish horse-drawn carriages from Central Park during his first week in office, noting for the first time that such a move would require City Council approval.
An official with the city's Transportation Department said the agency doesn't comment on campaign statements.
But he pointed to a handful of studies and reports to argue that the impact of the plazas, including less traffic and increased retail rent in Times Square, is well documented.
Polls have also shown widespread public approval for the dozens of roadway carve-outs throughout the city, which debuted in 2009.
There are currently 54 in design or construction or that have been completed, city officials said.
De Blasio spokesman Dan Levitan said that while the candidate is committed to examining the streets to boost safety, "Pedestrian plazas are, and will remain, a part of [de Blasio's] approach."
Republican Joe Lhota has also been neutral on public malls, saying he'd like to study their impact.
But drivers who have to get around the plazas said their impact is clear: They make traffic a mess.
"It's killing us. The pedestrian mall has locked up traffic; it screws everything up," said Mike Olszewski, a 40-year-old motorist from Long Island. "I would reopen it. It would help the flow of traffic."
John Smith, 63, who drove in Wednesday from northern New Jersey, had similar gripes.
"It's harder to get around now. You can't go around the block in two minutes anymore — it takes 20 minutes," he said of Times Square. "They may as well make the city all bike lanes and pedestrian malls."
Others, who were lounging on chairs in the pedestrian plazas, saw things differently.
"Before, there was so much traffic and the sidewalks were so crowded," said Luis Meneses, a 39-year-old security guard from Washington Heights.
"It should stay the way it is. It's more friendly now for people to visit."
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