NYC tightens security for New Year's Eve, sees few problems By Jon Zemke Daily Staff Reporter TIMES SQUARE - The crowds were sparse but constantly on the move. The combined 8,000 officers from different agencies kept urging people along from behind the blue wooden saw horse barricades. A fraction of the crowd carrying special passes into the deadzone - the area sealed off by officers around Times Square. "Can I have a picture of you, officer?" asked one unidentified woman. The officer answered, "No," and scanned the rest of the crowd. "But I want a picture of the policeman that wouldn't let me see the ball drop," she said, and snapped a picture of the officer. No, was a predominant answer in New York City on Friday. In a concentrated effort, city officials wanted to prove there would be no acts of terrorism, no panic or rioting and no danger. The police closed down blocks in the deadzone beginning at 6 p.m. as they "filled," starting with Times Square and spanning out as night covered the city. Although Times Square was packed with several thousand people the surrounding blocks of the deadzone were predominately empty. One officer said between 60,000 to 100,000 people congregated in the Times Square area. Closed streets and off-limits areas created a maze for spectators, and several thousand while trying to find a location to watch the ball drop in Manhattan. JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily A New Year's Eve reveler dances on the Ocean Drive promenade in Miami Beach's South Beach district. Many New York City residents left the city for New Year's Eve in an attempt to avoid both the crowd and difficulties created by the deadzone. Regardless of whether they planned to attend the Times Square activities, many said there was a sense of uneasiness. Actions by city officials to reduce the possibility of terrorist acts such as bombings added to the feeling of unease. The removal of garbage cans in Times Square, welding shut of manholes, influx of both uniformed and plain-clothed police and the covering of every garbage can in Manhattan created a feeling of lock-down and anticipation. But with police roaming the area in groups of two to 50 helped to reduce concerns among celebrants. At times it appeared there were as many uniformed officers as pedestrians. The final deadzone spanned length wise from 29th to 59th Street while the base went from Sixth to Eighth Avenue, creating a 90 square-block area of mostly dead space according to officers on the scene. Times Square was filled by people who had been eager enough to arrive early in the morning. Some tired to be outwit officers by taking the subway to Times Square after it had been sealed off came out of the subway tunnel, looked at the ball a block away, and were then told to move along out of the deadzone. Most of the crowds who weren't actually in Times Square saw the ball drop from intersection on Sixth Avenue or Broadway at a distance from behind NYPD barricades. The concentration of people at the intersection barricades brought in the new millennium with noisemakers and $2 plastic-glasses in the shape of 2000. The crowds cheered every five minutes of the last hour of the 1999 and then began to count in unison the year's final seconds. And when the ball dropped the people cheered, couples kissed and corks popped as the New Year was brought in with crowd's cheering, hugging, and wishing each other a happy new year. Then the small crowds of people dispersed, heading through the now open police barricades at Times Square. Originally on page 1A in the 1-5-2000 issue of the Daily.