Midtown N.Y. Renters Walk Tall

Forget the snow: Your lawn chair-sitting days in the middle of Times Square have been extended! Mayor Bloomberg has decided to keep Times Square a pedestrian-friendly walking mall.

This is tremendously good news for mid-town residents. Will the area be seen as a more desirable rental location in Manhattan? Will nearby nabes like Hell's Kitchen benefit from the "angelic" glow of close proximity? If you already live there we recommend you stay put before rents skyrocket.

Apartment residents in the Times Square area now have more benefits: reduced traffic noise, cleaner air, and safer, even easier walks to the tremendous number of shops, restaurants, theater venues, and bars nearby.

Just eight months old, the walkable mall has been hugely popular with locals and tourists alike. However, many feared the walkable mall would revert back to heavy traffic and exhaust fumes since the dramatic change hasn't delivered on the traffic-quelling utopia Bloomberg promised.