Urban Legend In The Making: The ESB Dead Zone

The Daily News has an entertaining story today about the possibility of the five-block radius surrounding the Empire State Building becoming a sort of Bermuda Triangle for cars. Apparently, a number of cars have to be towed from that area every day, which makes people suspicious. The common denominator: the ESB.

“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day,” said Isaac Leviev, manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider from 42nd St. to the Battery. “You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and the car starts right up.”
The News reports that people suspect that it's the presence of the multitude of radio and tv transmitters on the building's 203-foot spire. Phantom radio waves are suspected of jamming key-less locking systems and automotive disabling security systems. A local doorman says he sees it all the time and calls it the "Empire State Building Effect."

The most recent traffic figures we could locate quickly were in a New York Times article from 2003 about midtown congestion. It stated that about 2.2 million cars passed through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel monthly, a large majority of which would would seem to feed directly in and out of the 'ESB Zone'. We wonder if the number of towed cars in the area is anomalous based on the amount of traffic in that area.