Pope Francis will be visiting New York City from Thursday until Saturday. To prepare for his visit, the city plans to close over 40 streets and 10 avenues in Manhattan. For businesses located on these streets, extensive street closures will mean great disruptions.
In 2010, the pope’s visit to Spain cost Spanish taxpayers more than $ 16.5 million, according to Spanish media reported. For Pope Francis’ cost of visiting the United States, it is estimated to cost taxpayers tens of millions.
In New York City, selfie-stick vendors selling T-shirt or dolls will be scattered in Manhattan during the pope’s three day visit. A Pope Francis bobble head doll is going for $25.
“No customers. Every time something big happens, they [officials] close the street. We don’t have business at all,” said Marcos Pérez, who has been working at Columbia Photo Studio for nearly three years.
Columbia Photo Studio is located on 51st Street, opposite the northwest corner of St. Patrick Cathedral.
“It was awful,” said Pérez. He mentioned that last year, on his way to the studio, a police questioned him and checked his ID for entry permission. The most recent time when street closures happened was in UN week last year.
Columbia Photo Studio also operates as a flower shop. Pérez said that customers usually order flowers online and wait for delivery. If officials close the street, “It will be a problem to get in or out of the place,” said Pérez.
Usually, Pérez replenish flower stock on Mondays and Thursdays. However, since no vehicle is allowed during the pope’s visit in the area, he had to arrange delivery for Wednesday instead.
Teresa Kefalogiannis, owner of Teresa’s, a café short way down the street from the photo studio, says that the pope’s visit might help business. During long waits on line, visitors coming to catch a glimpse of the pope might need to stop in for a bite to eat, or something to drink. Even if visitors only bought bottle of to use the restroom would result in a boom in business, said Kefalogiannis.
It will be a challenge for New Yorkers to get around the area during the Pope’s visit and the United Nations General Assembly next week. Because of no on-street parking and gridlock around St. Patrick Cathedral and Columbus Circle, something simple as making deliveries will become difficult and time-consuming.
“It drives me to search for an efficient route for delivery recently,” said Munolo Mafinez of Global Kitchen. He is not familiar with the city and it usually takes him more time to spot a destination.
But one thing is clear to him. “When there is a traffic congestion, it’s easy to ride a bike on the west side than the east side. For the pope’s visit, I will use the roads on the west side,” said Mafinez.