No Place To Sleep, By Design, Ctd

A reader notices another way that architects are deterring homeless sleeping:

Glad to see this trend getting some air, and some criticism. When we were living in Astoria, I noted the appearance of some curious structures above the M/R subway lines. I assumed they were combination vents and benches, but it turns out they are effectively cowlings or battens placed above the existing tunnel vents, designed to keep floodwaters from penetrating the tunnels and disabling the trains.

They are undeniably elegant – and I appreciate the MTA’s choice of elegance over mere utility – but the undulating vanes were also deliberately peppered with raised sections that don’t affect sitting but make lying down painful. For the homeless – and Astoria has many, including for a time Cadillac Man, who wrote about his life for Esquire - the typical flush-to-the-sidewalk vents had for decades been a source of warmth in the winter months. These new structures struck me then as bitter symbols of the new New York: increasingly wealthy and stylish – but in equal measure increasingly hostile, by choice, to those who didn’t catch the cresting wave.

(Photo by Sean Hopkins)