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Comment by limsup | Hacker News Reader

Times Square generates 11% of NYC's economic output? 385k jobs? I find these numbers difficult to believe.

"a little over half of which are in that bright sliver of Midtown, while the other half are strewn across the country supporting Times Square operations from designing the content on the signs to keeping the power plants that power them on line."

Except that those power plants power the entire city, not just Times Square, so counting all their employees as part of Times Square's contribution to the economy isn't accurate. A single 50-story office building probably draws more power than all the LEDs in Times Square - for lighting, cooling, ventilation, elevators, computer and electronic equipment, etc.

They aren't LEDs

Times Square is right in the middle of Midtown Manhattan, the biggest and best-paid central business district in the US including a lot of financial industry headquarters, so depending on how they define 'Times Square' (especially if they include, say, a 2-block radius, which would also include Rockefeller Center), that figure could be realistic.

Those offices, of course, aren't there because of the big LED signs & throngs of tourists— most New Yorkers I know would think of working around Times Square as a negative, and would prefer a less-touristy, less-crowded neighborhood.

Here's the (naturally biased) source for that, taken from the article's comments:

http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/...

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