NYC Architecture and Development

Y'All. I'm in Moynihan Train Hall right now and all the trains are delayed by hours. Hundreds of people are waiting. Know what would be helpfull? Some benches. Put benches in Moynihan Train Hall. I was sitting on this ledge and got told I couldn't sit there by security. There are people sitting on heaters, on counters of closed coffee shops, on the stairs, against the glass railings to the gates, even just in the middle of floor. Know where they are not sitting? On benches. Becasue there are none.
 

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If they have tickets there is seating areas. Sorry people can't figure that one out.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
If they have tickets there is seating areas. Sorry people can't figure that one out.
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The "ticketed waiting area" was full, it had a line of people waiting to get in but couldn't. There were also plenty of people waiting to meet people that were delayed and couldn't get into the seating area because they didn't have tickets. The commodification of seating in the train hall is it's biggest glaring problem. People should be able to sit reasonably comfortably in a public space for free.
 
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While I don't disagree, there are three other factors at play here. First, once they are open the multitude of food vendors will also allow for seating. Second, this is an Amtrak operations problem far more than a seating problem. Third, and worst of all, the city has been so lax on the homeless issue for so long that we can't have nice things. But the last issue is why there are no seats. No politician seems to actually want to fix the homeless problem in the city and until they do, we won't have public seating (or more public restrooms for that matter). The alternative is to have "limited" public seating where cops can kick people out. That would cause far more of a stir than simply not having seating.
 
"Old" Penn Station had no seating, either - none on the Amtrak/street level and none on the lower LIRR/NJT level. Plus no light and super cramped/claustrophobic - And in the old setup, you had old narrow hallways/doorways for the throngs of people.
 
I was in NYC last month and took a few shots. I love this time of year as this is the only time where sun shines on the north side of buildings.

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50 Hudson Yards on the left, the BIG spiral is in the middle and a rando 700 footer going up on the right.
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More people are getting mad at the lack of seating at Moynihan. The sheer number of people having to sit on the floor is crazy. If it is truly a "once the rest of the hall opens there will be seating" problem the they should put in temporary seating until that is open. People shouldn't have to buy stuff to have a seat in a public train hall.

patch.com

Seat-Free Moynihan Train Hall Ridiculed As Riders Slump On Floor

After photos showed dozens of passengers forced to sit on the floor at the brand-new concourse, the lack of seating has come under scrutiny.
patch.com patch.com
 
Czervik.Construction said:
"Old" Penn Station had no seating, either - none on the Amtrak/street level and none on the lower LIRR/NJT level. Plus no light and super cramped/claustrophobic - And in the old setup, you had old narrow hallways/doorways for the throngs of people.
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And we all agree "old" penn station was an unimaginable failure and not built for the people that use it. If we wanted it to just be the same then why did we build a new shiny train hall?
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
While I don't disagree, there are three other factors at play here. First, once they are open the multitude of food vendors will also allow for seating. Second, this is an Amtrak operations problem far more than a seating problem. Third, and worst of all, the city has been so lax on the homeless issue for so long that we can't have nice things. But the last issue is why there are no seats. No politician seems to actually want to fix the homeless problem in the city and until they do, we won't have public seating (or more public restrooms for that matter). The alternative is to have "limited" public seating where cops can kick people out. That would cause far more of a stir than simply not having seating.
Click to expand...
The homeless issue is what drives me the most up the wall. The solution is to house people, not give people less places to sit. Because the city won't address real issues in housing, affordability, and mental health we all get a more uncomfortable city where those who need seating or restrooms can't have them.
 
found5dollar said:
The homeless issue is what drives me the most up the wall. The solution is to house people, not give people less places to sit. Because the city won't address real issues in housing, affordability, and mental health we all get a more uncomfortable city where those who need seating or restrooms can't have them.
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I agree 100%.
 
Further sagas in sitting at Moynihan Train Hall:
Today the ticketed waiting area was full, yet again, so I went to where I always go to sit on the floor, against a platform escalator railing, to wait until my train. A security guard walked up to me and said "you can't sit on the floor. You have to sit on your bag." What is this rule possibly solving? Why is it suddenly a new rule? If I was waiting for someone to get off the train and didn't have a bag what would I do? Know what would keep people from sitting on the floor? Adding. More. Benches. It drives me mad that we will make everyone have a bad experience so a few homeless people can't sitdown. The "excelsior, ever upwards" sign in the station is just mocking us. Ever upwards because you can't sit down.
 
Homeless people using services they need and generally do not have access to is very much not a reason to withhold them, if anything it is a reason to expand them due to need. If we cant give people homes (and we can, the real issue is the will to do so here) we should at very least make sure they have places to sleep, eat, shit, and bathe. Not providing those things only creates more problems with dealing with human waste and thus human health. Homeless people are not a scourge, they are usually victims of horrible circumstances and a system that doesn't really care about those who fall through its massive cracks. Those of us with roofs over our heads should be grateful we do not have to live like that and recognize how hard it must be to have to.

Homeless people have a right to exist in public and it is no coincidence that policies designed to keep them away create unfriendly, uninviting, and unsafe spaces for everyone. Inclusion is all or nothing.
 
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donkeybutlers said:
Homeless people using services they need and generally do not have access to is very much not a reason to withhold them, if anything it is a reason to expand them due to need. If we cant give people homes (and we can, the real issue is the will to do so here) we should at very least make sure they have places to sleep, shit, and bathe. Not providing those things only creates more problems with dealing with human waste and thus human health. Homeless people are not a scourge, they are usually victims of horrible circumstances and a system that doesn't really care about those who fall through its massive cracks. Those of us with roofs over our heads should be grateful we do not have to love like that and recognize how hard it must be to have to.

Homeless people have a right to exist in public and it is no coincidence that policies designed to keep them away create unfriendly, uninviting, and unsafe spaces for everyone. Inclusion is all or nothing.
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Thank you donkeybutlers- very well said
 
New angle of the wtc2 ripoff at hudson yards

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the materials are at least different

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^Thanks for the reminder to make my half annual check-in on 2 WTC. The news has been Foster+Partners was back on as the designer, though it was unclear whether the original design was going to stay, and it seemed like the project was never going to lift off the ground.

According to this article, they are close to starting construction within the next 6-12 months. We'll see hopefully a similar design to the original, fingers crossed. Foster has been designing some blandness lately.
 
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