Good Riddance Day, shredding memories of 2009 in the Big Apple

Longing to forget about that wretched boyfriend who was estranged from the words "romance" and "good grooming"? Put a beloved sports team's lousy year behind you? Vanquish those credit-card bills with their nasty 29% interest charges?

New Yorkers got that chance at the third annual Good Riddance Day in Times Square Monday, where out-with-the-old documents and newspapers hit the shredding bins of history. That's right, Big Apple's denizens (and not a few out-of-towners) with an eye toward a better year fed their tax documents, disappointing report cards and last year's New Year's resolutions to a shredder and dumpster in Broadway Plaza. Some disgruntled year-enders used a sledgehammer to pulverize CDs with love songs they'd rather forget. The tool was provided by the event's co-sponsors, Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment.