New York Times Square edit - enhancement or cheating ?

So here is a picture from Times Square New York, no excuses for poor composition but we had been travelling for 9 hours, arrived 24 hours late and there was a ‘sleet storm’. I really like the picture but obviously the bollards in the foreground are a real mistake/distraction.

BEFORE EDIT

Times Square - before major editing

So I did an A3 print and the picture grow on me even more but the bollards didn’t work.

So let’s try Photoshop, after a combination of the healing brush and clone tool the bollards were gone.

Times Square-after editing

So is this too much of a cheat ?