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According to this article in the NY Times, stores and businesses in the City will no longer be able to secure themselves with sold metal roll-down gates. All new gates need to be a see-through fence-like type like those found at suburban malls. No new solid-metal gates will be allowed after July 1, 2011 and all of them need to be gone within 15 years.
The reasons given for the change were to deter vandals from spraying graffiti on flat-surface gates, to help beautify neighborhoods and to give police officers and firefighters the ability to look inside in an emergency.
I thought this was very interesting because over time, it will surely change the look of the City, especially at night. Solid metal security gates (usually with graffiti) are another one of those iconic NYC backdrops. The Times called them "the unnoticed wallpaper of New York at night"
Opinions? Are you glad to see the old graffiti-tagged gates go away? Will they truly deter graffiti, or merely cause more broken windows? Are business owners being forced to take an unnecessary security risk? Is this further evidence of the "suburbanization" of New York?
Glad to see them go.So ugly...even without grafitti.And they are not really an iconic NYC backdrop unless you are less than 40 years old.Most were installed post 1960's-1970's civil unrest.
Don't know why the more open ones would cause more broken windows because they are just as effective at shielding glass from most projectiles and just as effective at keeping people on the other side.The solid ones were designed to prevent stores from being stormed by mobs,which hasn't happened in a very long time and hopefully won't any time soon.
It will be much nicer to be able to see inside and maybe have more light coming out onto the sidewalks.
It will make a big improvement in everyone's quality of life.
It's a good change, both for public safety personnel, and for the aesthetics of the NYC landscape. I think the gates are just as secure, and if the mesh is close together, it would be very difficult to propel an object through it to break the window, save for a gun. Then again, shooting a gun on a street into a shop to break a window might attract more attention than a vandal would like, and is a much more serious criminal offense, so I don't see that it can become rampant.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
I hate grafitti with a passion. It's an eye sore to look at. Great change for NY and it will improve the curb appeal and perception of the area as well.
Now if we can only impose stricter penalties like hitting the offender's pockets or the offender's parent's pockets like $500 with community service for first time offense, $1,000 and a week in jail for second time offenders. That'll teach them not to disrespect other people's property.
You gotta go hardcore with these ignorant kids so the message can sink through that grafitti will not be tolerated in NY.
Don't underestimate the criminal mind. Those see thru gates might Actually make it easier for criminals to case the layout of the place or see what merchandise they want. If they really want something then they're going to break in regardless of what kind of gates are there. Aren't the see thru gates also more expensive to install? And whoses going to pay for buisnesses owners to replace the gates they have now?
oh please anything for the public to spend money on. Now the store owners have to change the type of gates they have already installed......In today's economy, that will set some store owners back a bit...........
what a waste of money, kind of like getting new license plates..... like we really need them???
Love the idea but why 15 years? Seems like too much time. 8 years would have been good.
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