Transit Police report they are looking for four people who have now twice made off with the new arm rests/dividers on benches at the Red Line station in Central Square - the ones that some say are really a hostile act against the homeless.
They left with the metal pieces once around 3:25 a.m. on Feb. 14 and again around 5:50 p.m. on Feb. 22, police say.
If they look familiar, contact detectives at 617-222-1050 or send an anonymous tip to 873873.
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Comments
Universal Design Standards
By anon
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 4:15pm
I do not know if it is an ADA requirement but arm rests are considered best practice for universal design as it allows those with mobility issues to more easily sit down and get up from bench. Where I work, any new bench we purchase has arm rests for this specific reason where most of our old benches did not.
Those aren't seat backs.
By Ian Osmond
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 2:48pm
Those aren't seat backs.
Those aren't all requirements
By MSimonds
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 10:49pm
Many are malleable guidelines that can be tweaked for the situation and to reflect use and allow for retrofitting of existing furniture. For example, back support is suggested as a best practice, but in most of the cases on the T, the benches are up against a wall. For the benches I saw at Walden Pond State Park recently, they have the same railings, set away from the ends to allow transfer, but also backs that are similar to the rails, though the transfer seats at the ends don't have backs, though ideally they would.
yes
By No one im not here
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 3:05pm
yes, it assists in standing up for those with limited mobility
It's easy to talk
By anon
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 1:49pm
I am amazed at the amount of people here decrying "hostile architecture" and their support of unhoused people having every right to set up housekeeping in T stations. It is clear that they never, EVER take the T, so it's easy for them to pontificate from their lofty perch in leafy burbs.
I would probably do the same thing. Try visiting Bowdoin Station sometime, which I must use daily. It is overrun with homeless people who consistently smoke, urinate, defecate, vomit, and lie prone on benches meant to seat more than one person. They also leave piles of sometimes hazardous litter. Check out North Station sometime. Same deal.
Seems like there are a couple different possible solutions
By Ian D Osmond
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 6:41pm
Problem: people urinate and otherwise are gross in places they ought not to be.
Solution 1: have actual bathrooms and things that are appropriate places to do those things.
Benefits: place stops being gross, and also, people who need to go to the bathroom can do so.
Solution 2: make the entire place suck so bad that nobody wants to be there.
Benefits....
I dunno. It seems to me that the obvious solution to people pissing on the floor is to put in an actual bathroom for people to use that ISN'T a floor. Am I missing something?
Not really a solution
By anon
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 7:53pm
Have you ever seen the bathrooms in T stations that actually have them? Like Malden Center?
Disgusting isn't the word. Apparently just because there is a toilet doesn't mean people use it. Urine soaked floors, needles, disgusting refuse. Intravenous drug users go in there, lock the door and just stay in there. Way, way too many people are posting here that clearly have no clue how the T and it's denizens actually operate.
BMC and some other folks
By anon
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 8:20am
BMC and some other folks wanted to start a whole program where there was a safe, secure place where people could do their drugs and be offered help and narcan was available. The mayor and governor said no fucking way!! So yeah people will use in any lockable space instead.
THANKS MARTY
Social Activism or Vandalism?
By WhatNext
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 2:56pm
An increasing number of people in the population have decided that change is best accomplished by taking matters into their own hands. This is lawlessness.
If you don't like the law, regulation, rule, or policy you engage in a democratic process to effect change.
Are these handles anti-homeless? I don't know. It could be interpreted as such. However, I have also seen plenty of seniors and disabled people using these as an aid to stand up as the train approaches. So if you are trying to help the homeless you are also hurting the elderly and disabled.
Unfortunately, social activists and urban guerillas such as this rarely see beyond their singular focus and never consider the consequences of their actions.
Frankly speaking, and this will be an unpopular statement, the same mentality is at play with the insurrection at the US Capitol. Instead of working within the law and system and accepting the majority process, they take matters into their own hands. The only difference here is the political extreme; one is hard right, and the other hard left.
These people will eventually be identified, arrested, and tried. They will then try to use their time before a jury to voice their political agenda. If the judge and prosecutor is worth their mettle, that will be disallowed.
Simple math here. They willfully removed the arm rests, that is deemed vandalism and/or theft. Guilty or not guilty on that point of law alone.
If you don't like the arm rests organize your state reps.
You're comparing people who
By anon
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 4:30pm
You're comparing people who removed a metal part from a bench, to an armed mob that tried to violently overturn an election. These are not the same things and this is "both sides" nonsense.
political activists? Nnnnope
By Eddie Coyle's Friend
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 3:11pm
political activists? Nnnnope - theft is stealing. They are still criminals whether you like their "politics" or not.
This is hilarious
By boo_urns
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 1:29pm
Imagine making this point while living in the city where we started a revolution by stealing a bunch of tea and hucking it into the harbor.
Guess they should't have done that because it was a crime!
Also because this was opined by...
By Lee
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 1:40pm
one of Eddie Coyle’s friends.
I don’t agree with him but I do applaud the screen name! Wish I’d thought of it first.
I guess they cured cancer
By Gary C
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 3:32pm
Based on the number of repetitive anon posts and thumbs up, it seems this has struck a chord with a handful of people. While their goals may be noble, they are still stealing and should face the consequences.
Ah yes this old chestnut
By fungwah
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 3:42pm
Laws are there to be followed, no matter how unjust. And if it turns out later the laws were unjust, hey, you're just following orders, right?
Larceny is an unjust law?
By Waquiot
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 4:49pm
Um, okay. Theft is just now. Cool.
Do you get paid to miss the point?
By fungwah
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 5:37pm
Or is this just something you've decided to become an expert in as a hobby?
Is ensuring a safe atmosphere
By DPM
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 5:57pm
Is ensuring a safe atmosphere for middle class travelers an unjust action?
You want people to keep driving into the city? I sure don't. Want to make sure that happens? Make the T a homeless shelter.
"a safe atmosphere for middle class travelers"
By lbb
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 9:00pm
Counterpoint: what's "a safe atmosphere for middle class travelers" and yet unsafe for everyone else?
I make the point about middle
By DPM
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 8:48am
I make the point about middle and lower class travelers because the wealthy just drive in and pay $30 a day to park.
A less congested city requires people using mass transit. Mass transit full of homeless people will not be used by the middle class, just the poor with no other option.
I just upped your hyperbole
By Waquiot
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 8:19pm
I mean, you did seem to imply that enforcing the laws against larceny is somehow an unjust act. Shall I delve further into your "you're just following orders" comment, too?
Maybe it's just me, but taking things you don't like because you don't like them isn't the best policy. Were it a case of someone removing something you like because they think it is wrong, I'd be willing to bet you'd be a little animated about it.
Re: The old chestnut
By Gary C
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 8:27pm
If you choose to do something illegal to make your point, then you do so knowing that there are consequences. All the anti-war protesters and civil rights protesters back in the 60's and 70's knew they were going to be arrested and that was part of the gig. Sneaking around in the night isn't really the same thing.
We must be ever vigilant
For justice to prevail
So get courage from your convictions
Let 'em haul you off to jail!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuwsjKvOIoQ
Cool.
By ScottB
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 11:12pm
So if some neo-Nazis think that the laws against hate crimes are unjust, then it's all good when they spray paint swastikas on a synagogue.
SMDH
Were the armrests mounted
By Refugee
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 7:18pm
Were the armrests mounted with screws, and these people just brought a screwdriver and unscrewed them? If that was the case, they could have just replaced the screws with thumbscrews, allowing homeless people to unscrew them, sleep, and screw them back on when done.
That would have been more civil than stealing the entire armrest.
Uh huh. Sure.
By Wiffleball
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 5:58pm
And maybe if we leave IKEA flat packs at Bowdoin the furniture will be fully assembled when we come back the next day.
How naiive
By anon
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 6:47pm
Do you really think homeless people would be so fastidious as to screw them back on? Most homeless I see on the T are barely functional in the first place. And it would be unfair to expect T employees (if they exist) to clean up after them. I am a daily T commuter and I just don't get the people here saying "leave them alone, they're just looking for a place to lie down", etc. People saying this expose themselves as elitists who do not take the T themselves. Do they also advocate the homeless lying down in banks? In supermarkets? In restaurants? How are these public places different than the T? The T is meant to be a functional public place for commuters to get in and out of with a minimum of trouble. It is NOT a rest stop for people, homeless, drug addicted, or otherwise "who just want to lie down". Also, though I take the T on a daily basis I have yet to see a homeless person or obviously intoxicated person, and there are teeming multitudes of them, with a mask covering their face. So they are a health hazard as well.
Which train lines/buses are
By RobinTMP
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 1:56am
Which train lines/buses are you taking that you're not seeing homeless/chemically altered/mentally ill equipped people on a near-daily, if not daily, basis? I'm not being a smartass here (well, not completely...); I take the 88, 90, Red Line, and E Green Lines regularly, and see all kinds of people with all kinds of problems, although I do have to say that the huffer I saw a couple of years ago on the Green Line heading west from Lechmere with a very large plastic grocery bag carrying multiple spray cans (he had at least a dozen, maybe more), who was very obviously huffing away when he wasn't dropping cans and chasing them down the middle of the train probably takes the cake.
Most of us would like these people to please go somewhere else, but where can they go? They can't stay at shelters during the day; the libraries are doing pickup/dropoff only; and it's really too cold to just hang around outside, although a lot of people do it. Clearly there needs to be some kind of solution and safe places for the homeless and troubled to go, but what's the idea setup for this kind of thing, and how do we make it happen? And what would these people actually like to have for their use? You can build it, but if they won't use it for one reason or another, you've just spent a boatload of money for nothing. I can also understand not wanting to stay in shelters given the crime, proximity to illness, etc., and it's also likely that some of the employed homeless (yes, they do exist; we all know how expensive housing is around here) are working the night shift and need somewhere to sleep during the day. How do we help them out? And then there are the people no one wants to deal with, who are arguing with other people/the demons in their heads, trying to fight, smelling godawful, nodding out on the T, etc. etc. etc. What would be most helpful for these people that would also make public transit more pleasant for everyone?
Right now all these people are on T property, because a lot of them just don't have anywhere else even marginally warm to go. There were a handful of people semi-regularly camped out on the platform at Davis for a while, although I haven't seen them since the new architecture went in, and I hope they're OK wherever they are. A lot of them will move back into the parks, gardens, and other wooded areas when the weather warms up, which then causes its own problems, but at least they aren't sleeping on the T. What do we need to do to help everyone--ordinary people and those with problems alike--live a decent life and make public transportation more pleasant? I don't have any answers, but surely there are people who have some ideas on what mind work...
Read it again
By anon
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 11:50am
Read the comment you are replying to again. The original poster is saying the same thing as you.
If not for hostile design
By DPM
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 3:52pm
If not for hostile design what keeps the homeless out of stations. Certainly not the MBTA police at any rate I have seen.
My ride in this morning on the AM was lovely, 2 homeless people stretched out sleeping on the train. Maskless of course.
The city and state needs to help people. The T is not the home for that help.
You're right, the T is not a
By anon
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 4:32pm
You're right, the T is not a solution to our homelessness crisis. We also don't have to make things even more difficult for people who are just looking for a place to rest that is sheltered from the elements and safer than many other alternatives.
Yeah, because the low-middle
By DPM
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 5:25pm
Yeah, because the low-middle class commuter just trying to scrape out a measly day pay should have to deal with that nonsense and affiliated lawlessness. The rich get to drive in and pay $30 a day to park. Of course that makes some middle folks choose to drive instead. Endangering pedestrians, congesting the city and reducing T ridership.
No. The only people that belong on the T are travelers. Hopefully the 2 MBTA residents I experienced this morning did not give me covid.
I recognize one of them.
By J.R. Dobbs
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 6:19pm
And the cops can get bent.
This is infuriating
By MSimonds
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 8:35pm
And by "this" I mean the ablest concern troll brats who are so quick to jump on and blame "hostile architecture" without considering how important little changes like this are for those of us who need it. These people may be well intended but this thoughtless action has just made my and many other's lives more difficult by removing these railings. This is inclusive architecture because it takes into consideration the needs of all who use those benches for their primary intended use, which is a necessary in many cases, place to sit while waiting for the train or bus. I have lived with MS for over ten years now and have good days and bad days. Some good days I can walk for miles, and some bad days I can't even get out of bed. I have many days in between, some of those days I can walk a moderate amount, and many days I can walk, but require frequent rests. If my legs, waist, and hips aren't agreeing with me, I need a stable assistive device beyond a cane or crutch, which I don't always have on me, and anyone who has tried to get up from a seat or bench using just a cane knows what I am talking about, there is a stability issue there. Before this year, bench railings were far and few, and a recent change in the code by the Massachusetts Architectural Accessibility Board has now mandated them due to years of activism in the handicapped community, and these brats are ruining all that work by those of us who are passionate about universal accessibility and are making life more difficult for those of who depend on these little changes. These are probably the same people who yelled at me when I was walking away after using my placard to park in a handicapped parking space a last year. Not all physical disabilities are visible to the naked eye. Shame on them!!!
This isn't ableism and those
By ZachAndTired
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 10:03pm
This isn't ableism and those dividers aren't there with the intention of helping anybody. They're not even ADA compliant:
https://www.ada-compliance.com/ada-compliance/903-...
They are MAAB compliant, and ADA compliant
By MSimonds
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 10:27pm
ADA is generally flexible and in this case the guidelines offer suggestions for best practices and are not requirements. The state regulatory agency, the MAAB tightens up those requirements and seeks input from the community. Those suggestions were considered in the benches on the T and in state parks, for example "If provided, grab bars cannot obstruct transfer to the bench.", that's why the bars are offset a full seat space, it's done to allow someone to transfer from an assistive device and onto the bench. I've transferred from a chair onto a bench and made good use of the bar to pull myself on securely. The bars were also very vital making it possible for me to get back onto my chair.
The Homeless use the barriers as well
By Safavid
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 7:44am
A few Saturdays ago I am happy to report that a residentially challenged male was using the dividers as props at the Central Sq T for his belongings. All while not wearing a mask. He took up several spaces doing so. During a pandemic, this is a biological hazard for the entire community. Furthermore, elderly passengers and folks with temporary or permanent disabilities find these supports to be helpful.
I wish the individuals stealing the seat handles would work on cleaning the station, encouraging mask adherence, and creating a station that would be safe for all. Taking away supports for our elders is agist, disheartening, and misplaced anger. It would be great if the activists chose instead to target student loan companies, credit card companies, Amazon,and banks who are exploiting the pandemic to rake in the cash.
Anyone have?
By Don't Panic
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 12:18am
A picture of the modified benches?
My solution would be...
By Lee
Fri, 03/05/2021 - 12:31pm
... to double the number of benches in the T. Some with the barriers, to aid those who do use them for help sitting down and back up. Others without for those who find them counterproductive and an impediment to sitting or laying down.
I would like to see more benches everywhere. Public spaces are not just for those who can stand for long periods of time.
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