Get ready for more street closures in and around Rockefeller Center this holiday season — but this time, it’ll be to keep crowds to a minimum amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a press conference on Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke on how City Hall would mitigate crowding amid the holiday season, which health officials at the state level said could be devastating depending on precautions taken by members of the public.
During the Dec. 2 lighting ceremony for the tree, which arrived in the city on Nov. 14, the mayor may require the public to get advance tickets to attend the long tradition.
“We’ve been working with the state on the right way to approach this and we have agreed on a ticketing plan, details will be announced later today or tomorrow, and the idea is that we’re going to really limit the number of people by using the ticketing approach,” de Blasio said. “We expect some efforts to make sure there’s ample space like we did in previous years where we closed off some lanes of traffic, but again, remember, we want to make it really clear to people not to come out in large numbers and to be really smart about distancing. So we’re going to adjust those plans to achieve this goal.”
According to de Blasio, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was a success in keep crowds to a minimum, and he hopes the ticketing method will thin out the usually dense crowds circulating through Midtown.
In 2019, NYPD closed streets surrounding 30 Rock and Radio City Music Hall on Nov. 29, particularly with partial closures of 49th and 50th streets along with Fifth and Sixth avenues.
