"It was to keep people from sleeping out there," said a Strand bookseller who asked that her name not be used. "People used to sleep over there and in the morning we have to put out the book carts, so it was a little bit difficult and uncomfortable for some people."
However, a store manager denied that the sprinklers were intended to drive away the homeless, rather that they are used for cleaning the sidewalk.
And a reaction from Marcus Moore of Picture the Homeless: The sprinkler tactic was "an attack on the homeless population" and "this is not what caring people do to each other."
35 comments:
Disgusting and sad. I feel for that whistleblower. DNA Info shouldn't have revealed her gender when quoting her. I'm sure management would easily figure out which female employee puts the book carts outside.
Strand employees are union, so she's safe.
Its their property. They are probably tired of cleaning up the rubble the "homeless" leave behind. the City will ticket them for the garbage the homeless leave behind. When they sleep in the exposed basement areas in the evil restaurants along 6th St I always see a layer of cardboard they just leave there along with bottles and garbage and god only knows what. Sorry I'm not expressing the template 'the poor homeless' empathy. Just sick of them leaving a trail of garbage behind. And I hate the fucking restaurants more, they are a plague on the residents. Since Cooper Square is closed until fucking 2015, they have to crash somewhere. Sorry, the constant noise from Spice Cove and Souen is making me mentally ill, as science has shown will happen.
I work nearby and this wasn't a case of one or two homeless people curled up beneath their awning at night. This was a horde of trustafarian, hopped up crusties camped out halfway down 12th St. bet. Broadway and 4th Ave. Is dousing them with sprinklers the best tactic? Of course not. Might I do the same if I was a business owner trying to set up shop with a dozen belligerent "travelers" outside my door. Possibly.
I have photos of the sprinklers in action. They were installed when a group of young homeless kids were camping out there. Definitely to chase them away--the kids never came back after that. I've also seen passersby get sprayed.
Sorry but you can't have it both ways here in NYC. Over on Jeremiah's Vanishing NY, folks are giving the Mayor-elect advice about being more supportive of local businesses and at the same time, over here we've got Strand-bashing because they don't want the homeless camping out in front of their store. I think I've got my fair share of empathy for the down and out but as a business owner, I can't abide the shanty-town that scares my customers away and makes my employees worried for their safety.
No. Solutions to the homeless/loitering issues should never include resorting to physical assault (i.e., using sprinklers).
I don't buy the argument that the sprinklers were installed in order to cleanse the sidewalk. The majority of businesses use hoses for that.
The people who were sleeping there are homeless by choice heroin addicts... I have seen them harass and threaten the people in the neighborhood, especially the elderly... They leave needles and garbage on the sidewalk and mistreat their pets...
I applaud the Strand for splashing them with a little water...
Bah Humbug! Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Are they hungry? Are they homeless? It’s not my problem! It’s their fault! Let them die, and decrease the surplus population! But ...NOT in my back yard!” The reality, however, is that these homeless people are not some kind of half-human monsters. They are people from our community. People who have lost their way. People who desperately need our help, and our understanding. They are living ---and dying--- on our street corners, and in our parks. How callous some of us have become. There but for fortune, my friends... For these people need our healing and our help - not our harsh words of hatred and harassment. If YOU were in their tattered shoes; if YOU lived their shattered lives, then YOU would hope and pray and plead for compassion and understanding; YOU would hope and pray and plead that when YOU fell, people would help to lift you up - instead of kicking you further and further down. Love thy neighbor? Yes--- ESPECIALLY- - if they are poor, hungry or homeless. THAT.... is the true meaning of “community”. For what kind of society, what kind of community, and what kind of people are we - IF we close our eyes, IF we turn away, and IF we let people die on our street corners, in our parks..and.. in our hearts? IF we let that happen, then ask not for whom the bell tolls, dear neighbors. It tolls for thee....
A pack of these filthy drunk "homeless" junkie kids took to sleeping in the yard of the building next door to me, leaving it in the morning loaded up with human shit, urine, and syringes. I would go up to my roof early in the morning and throw big pots of ice cold water down on them. Guess I am a bad person. Funny cause I considered myself pretty easygoing since all I tossed was water, not a cinderblock as I was often tempted to do.
Where does Marcus Moore live? I want to camp out in his doorway, crapping wherever I want, and asking him for spare change as he is forced to step over me whenever he embarks on his missions of altruism and enlightenment,
I support the Strand. They are not a homeless shelter, despite what several people interviewed for that article seem to believe.
Postive reinforcement or negative reinforcement? Seems that in almost every case - education, sports, babies, pets, etc. - we've learned that negative reinforcement is a longterm loser, but I understand that's hard for some to accept.
But the more sad thing to me is how we've lumped all homeless into one bucket here. Seems to me that some homeless have actually lost their way, some aren't strong enough to fight drugs/alcohol, and others are just low-budget adventure seekers, but most probably have mental issues that we no longer address in institutions.
I'm sure there are other ways to type 'em, too. Each might require a different solution, but I don't know if we'll find even one, positive or negative, if we lump them all together.
To: Mr Marcus Moore of "Picture the Homeless"
The homeless people with syringes and taking dumps on the sidewalk... that is an attack on New Yorkers. And they certainly did that before some water was spashed on their poor little faces...
How noble to be for the homeless as long as it is at someone else's expense. Don't blame places like The Strand but a system that has not able to provide for these people. Then again I recall the homeless of old New York which were mentally ill for the most part or really bad off alcoholics. The "crusts" are something different as in they are crazy but not necessarily mentally ill.
Curious, did these Strand "homeless" ones also have dogs, the usual MO for the Crusties.
In the summer they could provide showers - it the winter its no fun.
Has anyone noticed a lot less crusty activity in Tompkins lately? I see some of them under the scaffolding on 14th and A now and other places. But they aren't in the park as much.
One of the critical differences between these scammers and actual down-on-their-luck folks is that these creeps make no attempt to be low key and minimize their impact, quite the opposite these junkies are all about screw you shit on your porch. Just a few months ago I took a cross country ride, living out of my little truck, all thru the USA for a few months. Guess what, I left no trace, shit on no ones lawn, was quiet and respectful always. Not that hard.
Anon 7:01PM - It's been pretty raw out the last couple of days - best to seek shelter. Also, most crusties appear to be wearing jeans, leather jackets or cotton/canvas jackets - none of which will keep you warm. You want to survive out there you need wool pants and wool shirts and down jackets. And stay out of the rain!
Getting wet in this weather can kill a person if they cannot go indoors. We should protest this. -Comrade El
Business or not, what gives The Strand the right? I never see them turn away the homeless when they have a bunch of decent books to sell. Shame one the Strand. I will buy my books elsewhere.
People need to engage their brains a bit here. The Strand didn't just one day open up their sprinklers. This came after repeated attempts to deal with the situation in a civil manner and being rebuffed in an uncivil manner. They were told more than once that this would happen.
Anonymous 5:16,
You're going to buy your book elsewhere? Where?
I have friends who work in outreach and there are shelters in the area where these people could take refuge at night but the ones who do drugs and drink won't go because they can't indulge. Others who are clean do go and are glad to have a place to spend the night. It isn't fair for the bookstore to have to deal with them. Criticize them all you want but if they were camped out in front of your building and peeing and shitting and leaving drug paraphernalia scattered about you would probably lose patience too. You never hear any of their defenders taking these kids in for the night and giving them shelter.
...I sat with a young woman one morning, bought her breakfast and chatted. She told me that many of the people who populate TSP and other EV spots (St. Marks, etc.) actually leave NYC once the weather gets colder, head south for the winter. She had traveled around the country, sometimes picking fruit and vegetables for money. There are as many stories as there are people living on the streets!
Yeah, some of them are travelers and head to warmer climes. Others are the college students slumming for the summer. They were all out of here in August. The travelers stay a bit longer.
The biscuits boys would be more than happy to have them outside their joint, to tell the world that their place is being mobbed by both the haute and the downtrodden. Their new slogan in their new media blitz: "The bums would rather have our biscuits than homes."
They go south mostly to NewOrleans to shoot dope booze it up and shit all over people's private property there. As tolerant as NO is, they are quite uniformly despised there. The other big stops on their big circle are Frisco and Portland. Fortunately the free cell phones that they all have, which by the way YOU are paying for with a surcharge on every phone bill YOU pay, work fine all around the country. So do the FoodStamps Cards. By the way YOU are paying for those cards, buying them food to shit out on your front steps.
NIce!
To all you haters/newbies: THE EAST VILLAGE WAS ONCE A PLACE OF TOLERANCE. And half the country is on food stamps right now. Also, after paying hundreds of thousands of dollars on rent for the past 15 or so years, I am at risk of being homeless. Where will I go? Looks like I'll be among the "crusties" as they are so called. The difference? I'm NOT drugs, don't have food stamps or a cell phone, and I'm articulate and can speak my mind. What will you all say when it's your neighbors on the street? NOT ALL THE HOMELESS ARE HOMELESS BECAUSE THEY ARE DRUG ADDICTS. WHERE IS THE COMPASSION? REALLY DISAPPOINTED LATELY with the base level comments here. Are you all too young yet to know strife? I got news for you...it's coming for you, that is, unless you have a fucking trust fund.
Commenter at 1:21... I think most commenters have great empathy for homeless people. Most people here are pointing out that they have no patience for the drug addicts who harass people and the crusties from Connecticut who temporarily play homeless. Working people around here trying to make it have no patience for their nonsense. There is a big difference between homeless people and the drug addicts and crusties. Can you share more about your situation? Have you lost your job? Is that why you are having trouble paying the rent? What's your next step? I have friends here who aren't near to being homeless but are weighing options because they know they can't afford to stay here much longer.
THe sprinklers seeme like a good solution. Having to nudge them to wake them up so you can get in your store is not safe. Bravo to Strand for their innovative idea.
Very disappointed in The Strand
Just because they're an independent bookstore and cultural institution doesn't mean they should get a pass. What if The Met did this? People would be forgiving on The Met too, well because it's a cultural institution. But what about 7-11? God forbid there'd be further boycotts on top of boycotts of that chain store. Strand has gone downhill anyway. They are more in selling gifts, paraphernalias, merchandises, and souvenirs, now that the intellectuals and the creatives have been replaced by the materialistic spenders, consumers, and trenders.
I know they like having those outside sale bins but maybe it is best to get rid of the awnings and the bins.
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