It will be a unanimous 1-0 ruling on Tuesday night when 2013 is officially declared history.
US Supreme Court Justice — and Bronx native — Sonia Sotomayor will lead the 60-second countdown at the New Year’s Eve gala in Times Square, and she’ll get to push the button that commences the ceremonial ball drop, organizers announced on Sunday.
“She is an inspiration to New Yorkers everywhere, and we can’t wait to have her join us,” the Times Square District Management Association announced on Facebook on its Times Square NYC page.
New York is preparing — and bracing — for the Times Square festivities, which will draw hundreds of thousands of revelers to the “Crossroads of the World” for a live telecast with musical performances by twerker Miley Cyrus, rocker Melissa Etheridge and others.
Planners on Sunday conducted the traditional “confetti test.” Joined by a fully costumed Spider-Man, they tossed heaps of colored scraps aloft in Times Square to test the party paper’s air-worthiness. One ton of confetti will rain down after the ball drops, officially marking the start of 2014.
Meanwhile, organizers and police are putting out word on traffic restrictions in Midtown that will go into effect starting around noon on Tuesday and expand as the party gets rolling. Vehicles will be barred from a rectangular area around Times Square bounded by 41st and 50th streets, and Sixth and Eighth avenues.
The street closures will begin at the southern end of the rectangle — at 41st Street — and will continue to move north as revelers arrive on foot. The traffic ban will remain in effect until 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
Organizers anticipate that the first wave of partygoers will start arriving around 3 p.m. and will be directed into viewing sections by police.
“The exact times that these blocks close to pedestrian and vehicular traffic will depend on when the revelers begin arriving,” says the New Year’s Eve FAQ page at timessquarenyc.org.
The festivities officially kick off at 6 p.m., when the New Year’s Eve Ball is hoisted above Times Square in preparation for its midnight descent.