oh my god you guys

you know those vagrants that wander the stoops of the east village in packs and ask for cigarettes and look down their noses at you?

you all know exactly they type of person i am talking about.


well one of them had a seizure or a drug overdose or something and the police responded and they shot the guy's dog because it was snapping at passers by and basically protecting his owner's body. The dog, named Star is not dead, so don't worry.

there is a video of the whole incident here which i will NOT post to 2pz because this is not the kind of blog that would show that kind of thing.

more like peeps-and-poops station

earlier this week, i rounded a corner in penn station and immediately had to dodge a large yellow puddle on the floor. as i passed, my eyes followed the puddle back across the floor to its source. a person, laying on the floor against the wall completely unconscious, possibly dying, probably already dead. then the smell hit me. i didn't have the measure of insensitivity necessary to snap a photo, but here's a sample from the internet.

one of the greatest injustices in the world, architecturally speaking (rob just 'my dad has cancer'd me) is the fact that there are black and white photos of what penn station used to be, lining the walls of what penn station is now. i am one of the forsaken 600,000 people that have to pass through this place every day, and i hate it with every fiber of my being.

the new york times has a piece today that explores some possible solutions:

Nearly a half-century has passed since the destruction of the great 1910 station designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White, a “monumental act of vandalism,” as an editorial in The New York Times called the demolition in 1963. A vast steel, travertine and granite railway palace of the people, the old Pennsylvania Station had declined by the end into a symbol of bygone Gilded Age opulence. It was replaced by Penn Plaza and Madison Square Garden, Modernist mediocrities, erected to serve real estate interests, with a new subterranean Penn Station entombed below.

Some 600,000 commuters, riding Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit, now suffer Penn Station every day. That makes it probably the busiest transit hub in the Western world, busier than Heathrow Airport in London, busier than Newark, La Guardia and Kennedy airports combined.

To pass through Grand Central Terminal, one of New York’s exalted public spaces, is an ennobling experience, a gift. To commute via the bowels of Penn Station, just a few blocks away, is a humiliation.

What is the value of architecture? It can be measured, culturally, humanely and historically, in the gulf between these two places. (via)

NeRd aLeRt: "The Low Line "

Some group of idiots want to create a High-Line style park...underground in a former trolley terminal beneath Delancey Street at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge.  Here's the proposed location and a picture of the original space:

According to this sketch, the park would be lit with solar collectors above ground which would pipe sunlight through fiber optic cables and distribute the light with underground diffusers.

It actually sounds pretty interesting, but ultimately the thought of an underground dimly light park in the LES seems like a glorified homeless shelter.  For example, this indoor park at the Deutsche Bank on Wall Street is above ground and it's homeless chess player city.  Just sayin'.  Looks pretty though.

Fun fact, Starla and I met at The Delancey where we tricked a very drunk JVM into buying us many drinks until the bartender told on us like a little bitch.  Happy belated birthday Starla!
 
[Delancey Underground]

i have absolutely been on the train with this guy before.

he would not shut up.

in related news:

opposite of the catching beagle pup

more subway antics!

don't believe i'd remain seated if i was ol' green jacket.

what it's like.

i was just remembering how i dry heaved on the E train this morning, and decided to lazily draft up a message to the MTA. joel wanted me to show it to you:

subject: i'm a human being

question: i take the E every morning (around 7am) from court sq to 42nd street, and i find that there is an unusually high frequency of remnants from overnight homeless passengers. this morning, i literally became nauseous from the sights and smells that greeted me. i guess i just want the MTA to freshen up the trains before the morning rush hour begins, and/or put more effort into preventing passengers from using the restroom in them. the E train is especially bad. just a heads up. thanks!

i sent it. i'll let you know.

UPDATE! response!

Response (Fernando Polanco) - 04/28/2011 02:55 PM

This is in response to your recent e-mail to MTA New York City Transit reporting poor conditions in our subway system.

We regret if you experienced difficulty due to the conditions you reported. Please be assured that customer safety and comfort are New York City Transit’s highest priorities. All subway cars are regularly swept and mopped when trains reach their home terminal points, and more extensive cleaning tasks are performed when trains are returned to the storage yard. There are also signs posted in the subway reminding customers not to litter. Station personnel will continue to regularly inspect our subway cars and take corrective action as necessary to ensure proper conditions. In response to your e-mail, we have referred your comments to our Department of Subways for their review and further appropriate action.

In addition, please note that the MTA New York City Transit is aware of homeless individuals in the subway system and is continuing to work with the Transit Bureau of the New York City Police Department to address this problem. Officers from the Transit Bureau patrol the system at all times, and New York City Transit has an aggressive program to reduce homelessness and panhandling and a public awareness campaign intended to discourage our customers from contributing to panhandlers. In addition, the MTA sponsors a social outreach group called MTA/Connections Outreach that works with homeless people in the subway, identify their problems and directing them to services providing food, shelter and treatment. The New York City Police Department’s Transit Bureau Homeless Outreach Unit and MTA Connections Outreach will be made aware of your concerns and appropriate action will be taken as warranted. If you would like further information regarding this homeless condition or MTA’s Outreach program, please call Cynthia Wilson, Program Manager, MTA Homeless Outreach at 212-878-1076. Please be assured we will continue our efforts to reduce homelessness in the subway and to ensure a proper environment for our customers.

If you have further station-related questions or concerns, we ask that you contact us at (718) 330-1234, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven days a week, regarding this type of issue.

We take the concerns of our customers very seriously and thank you for having taken the time to bring this matter to our attention.

Fernando Polanco
Staff Analyst l

well, that was fast! little do they know, i also take the G, whose terminal station is also court square, and i see them routinely NOT mopping that train. just standing around with mops and making me wait while they chit chat for 10 minutes. but that's ok, because the G(reat) train is adorable and never smelly or dirty and hardly needs cleaning at all! do you know why they call it the G train? because you GET to take it!

the stabby 3.

A homeless man used a pen to stab a woman in the head Tuesday after she berated him for trying to smoke on a subway train, police said.

A police source said the man had a cigarette on his lip and was trying to light it when the woman tried to convince him to stop.

Then, without warning, he pulled out a pen and plunged it into her head just after 9 a.m.

The victim was taken from the southbound No. 3 train at Chambers St. and West Broadway to New York Downtown Hospital. The 45-year-old woman was in stable condition.

The homeless man was arrested for assault, police said. (via)

keep your thoughts to yourself when dealing with h-people, ok?

happy 1991 thursday!!

nErD aLeRt again!

it's been a while since we've done one....

the carver apartments. low-income housing in los angeles, designed by michael maltzan.

At first glance the building seems to hold itself somewhat aloof from this setting. Its crisp white cylindrical exterior is broken into a series of saw-tooth-like vertical ridges. A pattern of narrow horizontal and vertical windows, designed to keep out the noise and exhaust fumes, contributes to its slightly defensive air.

The anticipation builds once again as you move toward the building’s central courtyard, a dreamy cylindrical space that is dominated by a grand staircase. A ring of sheet-metal fins climb the full height of the space, accentuating its vertical thrust, and your eye intuitively follows them up past several rows of balconies to a perfect circle of California sky. (via)

hobo american girl

2pz reader and sister melissa alerted me to the newest american girl doll. you will remember that we now get the american girl newsletter thanks to samantha's recent hospital visit. well, the only interesting thing about the usually wholesome american girl doll is that according to her backstory (which you can read in paperback), Gwen's father left her, her mother lost her job, and now they are living in a car. homeless. really american girl? really?

what am i looking at?

thx bun-bun.

homeless real world.

Four independent TV producers are searching for the right network to broadcast their labor of love, "Homeless Real World," which is kind of like "Real World Brooklyn," but in Denver, and with fewer losers. (gawker)

i really hope this happens. thx g.

critical response to the THREADSECUTIONER