Pyramid Scheme: Critics Question Why Transit Spaces are ‘Hostile’ to Humans

[Airborneguy]

I've told this story here but not in awhile. Years ago I was meeting friends in the city. Some huge lady was begging in my car. I was near the end door. When we stopped, she went to switch cars with her act, but not before staring at me in some failed intimidation attempt. She said something like, "Don't tell me you don't have cash." Without hesitation I hip checked her butt right out the door. You don't deal with crazies on fair terms: woman, man, confused mix of both, I don't care. Learn that lesson quick if you plan to operate around NYC. She stood on the platform stunned while the whole car laughed and clapped. They loved it.

[BugsyPal]

Originally Posted by Aeran

The colorful pyramids were recently added to the tops of bollards at the 33rd Street and 7th Avenue Penn Station to discourage lounging. lol. Kind of reminds me of the little, metal spikes that are placed all around structures to prevent sitting or leaning. Ugly but practical.

https://www.thecity.nyc/transportati...re-mta-transit

The new showpiece entrance to Penn Station that added sparkle to the famously grimy transit hub late last year now has structures resembling ancient wonders of the world.

A trio of wooden pyramids was erected atop flat metal security bollards in front of the station’s East End Gateway at Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street — just months after the December 2020 opening of the sloping glass-and-steel entrance to the Long Island Rail Road concourse.

The pyramids, painted in bright pastel colors, look fairly artsy but were installed “to deter unauthorized activity” at the entrance that saw a MTA Police booth added several weeks after it opened, an MTA spokesperson said.

“People were sleeping there all the time,” said Crystal McFadden, a 49-year-old homeless woman who was instead seated last week on a NYPD barricade in front of the entrance. “They don’t be over there no more.”

Installed in May, the pyramids are among examples in the city and around the transit system of what critics have labeled “hostile architecture.”

Such things are needed otherwise every GD public place becomes infested with homeless and other miscreants.

Ages ago police used to throw people loitering (mostly the homeless) out of Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station and Port Authority (among other places) for loitering.

Then usual liberal progressive suspects got all lawyered up, took matter to courts and result was NYS's highest court banned anti-loitering laws. Every since then it's been off to the races....

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/18/n...loitering.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/14/n...uring-day.html

Every place you effing go there are people sprawled out on benches, seats, etc...

Response to above loss of lawsuit was GCT, Penn Station, Port Authority and other places began closing their terminals/stations or whatever at some point overnight. Critics pushed back about forcing people "out into the cold" or whatever, but GCT and rest simply said the places needed closing to be cleaned.

So now the problem has been shifted to areas or things that are open 24/7. Subway system, Saint George and Whitehall ferry terminals....

Those places plus any restaurant, dinner, fast food joint, etc... Any place that is open 24/7 is open to being invaded all hours by homeless, drug dealers, etc...

One reason you don't see many places open any more overnight is owners got tired of effing homeless, drug dealers and others camping out for night.

There used to be a few 24/7 laundromats in Manhattan (two were on First avenue in 80's and 90's). But they now close overnight. Too few actual customers, but many homeless camping out.

[Aeran]

A Field Guide To The 'Weapons' Of Hostile Architecture In NYC. I think they're ugly but... necessary at times.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/new-...transit-3.html

Earlier this month, Ya-Ting Liu was walking through Fulton Street Station when she noticed something different. The domed transportation hub in Lower Manhattan, which opened in 2014, has been praised by architecture and public space enthusiasts for its airy and light-filled design surrounded by glass and an oculus skylight.

Liu, who commutes to work in Manhattan, particularly liked the low ledges by the tall windows which look out onto the streetscape. She would often come there to sit when she was in between meetings or looking for a place to take a call.

But on that day, she saw that a row of steel stanchions had been installed to rope off the area. A former student of urban planning, Liu knew exactly what was going on: it was an example of “hostile” architecture or design that is meant to discourage lingering and other types of public behaviors.

[Pope of Greenwich Village]

Have any of you noticed how all the big awnings that buildings and businesses used to have are simply gone? Now when it rains it’s very hard to find a place to shelter for a minute or two. These skells are why we can’t have nice things anymore.

[pierrepont7731]

Originally Posted by Pope of Greenwich Village

Have any of you noticed how all the big awnings that buildings and businesses used to have are simply gone? Now when it rains it’s very hard to find a place to shelter for a minute or two. These skells are why we can’t have nice things anymore.

By Park and 46th, building management actually put up barriers because all of the homeless would congregate there at night to sleep over the grates. I guess they provided warmth, but it was a real eyesore just steps from one of the most expensive avenues on terms of real-estate. I'm all for it if it stops them from congregating in such spots.