#New Yorkers ignore ‘one way’ instructions on Lower Manhattan sidewalks

A woman ignores a “one way” decal on a Lower Manhattan sidewalks.
David Meyer/NY Post

A local business group has placed stickers with red arrows that read “One way” and “This way please” on dozens of sidewalks in and around the Financial District.

But in true New York fashion, many locals aren’t following them.

“I’ve noticed them. Nobody follows them. Look, you’ve got people coming down right now,” said one neighborhood resident, who declined to give her name, as a succession of people marched east over an arrow pointed west at Broad Street and Exchange Place.

In a June 15 press release, the Downtown Alliance said it created 30 one-way sidewalks “to help pedestrians navigate the neighborhood’s narrow passages while maintaining safe distances from others” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The arrows typically point in opposite directions on opposite sidewalks of the same street.

“I can’t really tell if people are following it or not,” one doorman at a residential building on Wall Street said of the decals.

“Some follow the rules, some not. Who knows why?” he added, noting that maybe half the people who walk by his building are wearing masks.

The Downtown Alliance also added hand-sanitizing stations around the area and has been handing out masks, according to its release.

The organization did not immediately return a request for comment.