cybercuzco's Journal: The City that Never Sleeps, or Even Sits Down.

So I just got back from my first trip to NYC this weekend, and I had a few interesting observations.
      The first has to do with homeless people. NYC has a homeless problem. Not a big problem, it could definetly be worse, but a problem nonetheless. Now homeless people, being homeless, tend to sleep in one of several places:
A homeless shelter, with limited spaces, but comfortable and clean(er).
A bench somewhere, Cold and hard
A subway grate, warm and hard.
        NYC has decided to solve the problem of bums sleeping on benches everywhere by.... Removing any place to sit down in the entire city. The extent to which NYC has gone to keep people standing is evidenced by where they have to put signs to keep people from sitting on stuff. At the top of the empire state building there is a gift shop, and the gift shop has stuff on shelves, and one of the shelves has an end cap with products on it, and that end cap has a lip that comes out right at about seat height. They put a sign on that that says " Please do not sit on the shelf" In grand central station they have big signs that say "Sitting on the stairway is strictly prohibited" Now having been in several train stations I can understand the problem that they have with homeless people living there. Theres a liuttle park in times square that has some benches in it. The city put a fence around it and locked the gate. There was a bum sleeping on the bench though
      There are two things I find wrong with this anti sitting attitude, one, youre not solving the homeless problem! You still have a bunch of homeless people, now they just sit on the floor, or sleep on the subway grates. Two, the only way to get around nyc is by walking or standing on the subway, people need a place to sit down.
    Ultimately NYC is solving a symptom to the homeless problem and not the problem itself. Removing benches will not help people find jobs, or get them the psychological help they need. Only a sustained effort of the city to help these people and provide places form them to stay that are off the street will at least start to solve the problem. Then maybe we can all take a load off.