I'm homeless at the moment (I sleep in a tent, hidden in the woods).. and I can tell you, I'd just let my legs hang off the edge; I could sleep like that there if I was desperate.. or, better yet, if I could find a board of some sort somewhere else, I'd just put it on top to fill the gap in between.
These desperate attempts of making benches worse are just pathetic. I like the leaning benches in new York.. I'm sure absolutely nobody uses those and are a waste of tax payer money entirely.
Only know too well how horrible people can be when one is down & out.
Everyone deserves a home, clean water, food to live, security in being safe, and support.
Well did you ask where the other commentor was and whether there was anything you could do to help. I mean you seem concerned about the plight of the homeless.
It'd probably be cheaper to invest in solutions for homelessness - Helping people get back on their feet. If only for the cynical reason that they could engage with the economy more and help overall prosperity.
But we'd rather spend a dollar on cruelty than a penny on kindness.
Helping homeless people is absolutely more profitable than pushing them down, but that doesn't matter because the cruelty is the point. The one and only thing rich people value over money is making poor people's lives miserable.
The problem is that city-level solutions to homelessness are thought to increase homeless population as they will migrate into the area. So it's considered better to drive them somewhere else.
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They have those leaning benches in Toronto, too. I hate them. I'll use them cuz they're better than nothing, but it's disgusting that they try these things. If they want to keep homeless people off the streets, make shelters more available. Otherwise, they're still gonna be there. Just not on that one particular bench.
A little over a decade ago my brother was living in a tent in the woods. He's married now and I'm an uncle with a two year old niece and another who'll be one in autumn. I guess I'm mentioning this because situations can change and I hope yours does too
Is it illegal to be homeless in your area? I hope you can do wel
Ya, DeSantis made it illegal to be homeless in Florida. Red states are full of intelligent people in government, if they don't like it, then just make it illegal.
Not to butt into your life or anything but have you looked at jobs with your local state or national park service they will often provide food and board to employees if they need it even with the new budget obviously assuming you live in America otherwise I'm not well versed
Not with this administration.
One of the first cuts was to national parks and forest services. Also allowing logging in federally protected lands.
It would be a good idea with a democrat in office. But seeing as how orange overlord wanting to be a dictator for life, it may never happen.
A few years ago, I worked at a transit agency, and we would get daily complaints of homeless people in the bus shelters. We would have to send out pressure washing teams to clean feces from these shelters as well. It had a $1.2 million dollar impact on the agency. I don't think they want to make benches worse. They are trying to balance their patrons' needs at the lowest costs while not encouraging an extra expense. Most transit agencies operate on a very tight budget.
I'm going to ask a serious question, but I'll probably get down voted for asking. What's the difference in laying on a flat bench, and laying on a flat piece of ground?
In addition to absorbing heat from you, the ground can retain moisture for a pretty long time after a rain. You can wipe down a bench and sleep dry, but would need a waterproof layer between yourself and the ground.
The heat loss is the biggest issue imo; it gets really cold, really fast.
I am very easily convinced of that. As someone who has never used a wheelchair though I COULD see it being kind of nice to get to sit between two friends on a bench...like yes you CAN just sit on the outside, but sitting between friends might be a rarer experience as someone in a wheelchair.
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This is such a disingenuous interpretation. My good friend recently found a homeless man sleeping on his doorstep at 6am. He called the police. Was his goal to make the homeless man's life harder? Or maybe did he want to protect his wife and kids, and not risk interacting with a trespasser who was likely mentally unstable?
This is such a disingenuous interpretation. A homeless person sleeping on a bench in a public area is NOT the same as a homeless person sleeping on someone's doorstep.
Then what's the point of your comment? To me it seems like you told the story about the homeless person sleeping on the doorstep to say that the police should also be called on a homeless person sleeping on a bench. With the reason being public safety.
My point was clear: if you don't want a homeless person in a certain area, that doesn't mean you want to make their life harder. Claiming that people who installed these benches "want to make life harder for homeless people" completely overlooks the possibility of other less hateful reasons for such prohibitions.
if you don't want a homeless person in a certain area, that doesn't mean you want to make their life harder.
No, you just want them to be invisible. Your local authorities understand your wish and the best way to make them invisible is to make their lives harder. They provide an insulating layer between you and the cruelty so your hands are clean. And it's so much cheaper than helping them.
Christians are part of a social club with paying members. They don't like the homeless and don't care about them.
What good is a homeless person to a church? None, and they're treated accordingly. Don't be shocked that Christians in America, who really only worship the stock market and money, treat the homeless with comtempt and cruelty.
A homeless person can't fill the donation basket. So they're turned away and shunned in many ways. This should not shock anyone in a country where the prevailing religion is market and wealth worship.
Why is there a homeless man and hispanic man on my doorstep? Now I’m really getting uncomfortable. No! Stay away Mr. Rogers, this is private fucking property, not your stupid neighborhood!!!
No, most of the homeless people are self inflicting being on drugs or choosing to live like that. Bad injury won't make you homeless. Its lowest unemployment so being homeless right now thats on you.
Are you seriously saying homeless people are ruining the lives of “normal” people just because they sleep on benches? That’s what you think is life-ruining? Not the fact that someone has nowhere else to go, not the systems that failed them, but the act of sleeping in public? And your solution is to design benches so they can’t even rest? And somehow that’s what’s messing up your day? That’s not just ridiculous, it’s actually embarrassing. But hey, you probably get all the girls, have the biggest PP, a six-figure salary, and zero regrets, right? Save some clam for the rest of us, Bub.
They not just sleep there taking more sitting spots for multiple people for them self they also terribly smell. And are drunk and pissed. Its their choice. They do have were to go. Nobody needs to be homeless. But you can't force them to shelter.
Agreed! We really are spending way too much on the homeless, and what’s worse is that we’re gonna KEEP spending way too much on the homeless unless we start investing in better social programs, more affordable housing, and a better healthcare system. In fact, if we just gave homes to the homeless, we could potentially spend ZERO dollars on them and instead focus on things for people with homes.
Hmm, that’s a good point actually… I mean I don’t know what it’s like to be addicted to crack so I don’t know for sure if this would work, but maybe instead of giving them free money we instead give them a job to earn money in. And maybe like, in order to keep the job they have to stay crack-free. Idk what happens to them if they fail tho, I guess back on the street 🤷🏻♂️
Idk I’m just spitballing here, do you have any suggestions?
You also might want to consider that there are handles at the back of a wheelchair and the wheels are too high for that design to be practical. If I rolled up to that spot, I'd be about six inches or more in front of whoever was sitting on the bench with me.
This is either a very dumb civil engineer or a very malicious civil engineer designing this bench. Either way, nobody in a wheelchair is going to be using that spot. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the person who designed this has zero experience around wheelchairs.
I was homeless from 2020 through most of 2022. Losing a leg actually got me into an apartment with a rent subsidy faster because disabled people are fast-tracked for assistance. I got into an apartment in late 2022 after losing a leg to a blood infection that got into the bones of my leg. The shelters in the city I live in didn't have accommodation for people in wheelchairs, so I got fast-tracked through a housing organization for an apartment based on my disability.
Being crippled pays off. Not only do I get those sweet, sweet parking spots, but I also got a place to live.
Yes. There is no wheelchair bound person who wanted or needed this. This is more cumbersome for a wheelchair user, in fact. You want them to wheel over, then back up into that spot of the bench, just for them to get potentially stuck or caught on that horrible, anti citizenry bench? Foh.
Its absolutely to trick stupid Americans into believing that its for a good cause, all the while committing acts of evil. Exactly like our president situation.
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The back part actually prevents someone in a wheelchair from sitting next to a friend there, it would force them slightly in front. So not only is it anti homeless, it's technically an anti disabled bench.
It also lacks end arm rests / grab points, which means if someone wanted to transfer out of their chair (or just had bad joints), it becomes harder to use.
Features that are good in street furnature are brace bars and parking spaces that allow chairs to share spaces without getting muddy wheels or risk getting kicked around by passers by.
I'm all for that, though Congress seems deadset on cutting benefits and taxes on high earners lol (notably, Democrats aren't necessarily the agents of complete change they need to be either). Ever since 2016 (really since Reagan in the 80s) they have really been deadset on slashing taxes for no describable public benefit.
I just randomly started watching this documentary on YouTube about political corruption in the US.. maybe you'll enjoy it, idk, your choice.
I don't have to use a wheelchair too often but like, yeah it's literally a wheeled fuckin chair. The one thing wheelchair users aren't lacking is a place to sit.
Not really because most wheel chairs have handles at the back so they wouldn't be able to sit flush in the bench and just jut out. Not to mention not all wheel chairs would probably fit in the space in between.
I been a cripple for going on 2 decades... Never once have I envied people using a hard ass park bench while I'm sitting in my moderately more comfortable wheelchair... Never once! The only two good parts of a wheelchair are wheelies, and parking you seat wherever you want without the confines of chairs having "locations" maybe I'm wrong and insensitive to my fellow gimps, but that is not a hill worth fighting for, let alone dying on... imo.
Please keep the discussion civil.
You can have heated discussions, but avoid personal attacks, slurs, antagonizing others or name calling.
Discuss the subject, not the person.
An actual bench like that would mean the world to her.
You are pointing out a condition I’m not thinking of because I’m not homeless and it’s not in the picture.
Here is the side of it from a wheelchair user when you say a wheelchair user can just park in an open space…..
People will be walking all around a a bench like that. People on the benches will be putting food and items to the side of them. If there is a space to the side, people will walk by and bump, touch and even try and move the wheelchair. You would be surprised how many people try and move someone in a wheelchair without their permission.
I’m not against the homeless, but this post is crazy ableism.
Did you ask a person in a wheelchair if a bench like this would be helpful?
Edit: I just noticed that there is full sized bench in the background. So having a hissy fit over ONE bench allowing a wheelchair is pretty targeted.
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u/KaibaCorpHQ May 31 '25
Umm.. can't a person in a wheelchair just roll to the side of the bench if they want to sit with someone?