Chris Louie came upon the scene above on Thursday morning around 6:45 a.m. — three people sleeping outside on Broadway between 101st and 102nd street on mattresses placed on wooden benches. The people had pillows and comforters. The mattresses appear to have sheets on them.
Chris was jogging and said he didn’t stop, but it struck him as strange.
Indeed!
What is going on here? A Department of Homeless Services spokesperson said “it’s not a city project.” And Councilman Mark Levine, who represents the area, said the same thing.
The block where the people were sleeping is not in front of a church or other social service agency as far as we can tell. We’ll be sending a reporter out to see if we can find out more, but in the meantime let us know if you’ve heard anything: Is this social service, performance art to highlight the issue of homelessness, a new outdoor hostel?
UPDATE: It appears that this is part of a project by two artists who built benches and a table and are carrying them down Broadway, stopping every night to eat and sleep on them. They say they’ll stop about every five blocks and set up the chairs and benches, according to the blog Brooklyn Street Art. They’ve also done this in other countries.
Laurent Boijeot and Sébastien Renauld began their month-long journey in Harlem on 125th street over the weekend with their handmade wooden furniture and immediately they had guests over to their place. With a coffee pot brewing and comforters, boxy retro luggage, and benches stacked nearby to convert later into beds, the Street Artists/public artists/sociologists from Nancy, France invited passersby to sit for a minute, perhaps a little longer if they had the time. Almost instantly, the artists began meeting New Yorkers of all kinds.
“A chair is a really simple tool and everybody knows how to use it,” explains Mr. Renauld, an architect, referring to their instant home as part props, part instruments of interaction.
They also say they don’t get mugged because no one knows whether they have weapons under there: “The best part of sleeping on a bed is that a passerby doesn’t know if you have a weapon, he says.”
Image of the block where they slept Wednesday night via Google Streetview.
Guesses:
1) Viral marketing
2) Another Columbia undergrad’s final project
They must have removed the sidewalk Sukkah after all, and these people slept through it.
I passed a woman who was talking (complaining) to them the other morning on the street and she told me that it’s an art project which encourages people to sleep on the street. She said she had called the City Council to express concern about it.
Seems like they move to a new spot each day. I first saw them up around Broadway and 110 earlier in the week, and the other day on West End and 106.
Why is there always “a woman” who has a complaint about something on the UWS?
Sean, my dear, it’s because there are usually annoying “men” doing things to piss us off! Duh! Ha!
They outlived their husbands
They may have hastened their demise.
Sean is showing a lot of restraint today. He forgot to add ‘old’ or ‘senior’ to his comment about women. 😉
They have already reached the dark side.
Sean, you win ‘comment of the day.’ You are completely on the money.
Saw them setting up yesterday. Its some sort of artsy statement project. Folks were sitting at the tables eating yesterday afternoon.
I’m more into the eating art myself
Don’t worry they’ll all get mugged soon enough and you guys can continue complaining about the mayor as per usual.
This is a group of French performance artists. We encountered them last weekend when they started their camping out at 125th Street. They had said they intend to move a few blocks every night and end up in Battery Park.
I LOVE the Camping Arts.
Women have to speak up to bring about change or inform others of ongoing in the area. Men just stay inside and grumble about what happens in society. not sure what type of demonstration this is but we don’t need more people sleeping outside. It is unsavory, a hazard and it looks like they are blocking the bike lane.
“we don’t need more people sleeping outside. It is unsavory, a hazard”
Exactly.
They were on Broadway between 107th and 108th on Monday night. They were hanging out at the tables and chatting when I passed by around 10:30 p.m.
Their project and intent will be all washed out as it will rain all weekend due to Joaquin heading this way. Maybe they also packed a couple of huge patio umbrella’s.
Those patio umbrellas will of course take flight and skewer someone. It will then become a Christo piece.
Thank you! Have been wondering as I watched them move south along broadway from about 120th….haven’t seen them sleep, though, just the rolled up matress and the tables snd chairs during the day. Figured it was a columbia project!
Has anyone actually seen them sleeping?
Hey Raggers (or Ragsters, which do you prefer?), careful with the reporting (“The block where the people were sleeping”), you know, a lot of people are counting on your news to make some very important decisions.
I mean were there or, were there not sleeping people?
This is how that whole WMD thing got started, and we want none of that on the UWS.
They should set up their beds in the bike lane. That would make west siders happy!
No — better idea: They should petition the City to carve out a “beds only” lane on Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.
Then, maybe the City could set up a “rent-a-bed” program, providing racks of portable beds (akin to what these artists are toting around) for someone who might like to sleep in the “beds lane” now and then.
This is a longstanding need that ought to be addressed. I’m sure there are many (well, a couple of) people who really feel strongly about the need to sleep in the street from time to time, and they are a long-overlooked minority. Taking a(nother) lane of traffic in order to indulge them is the least the City could do.
That will create a whole new set of UWS kvetches who will complain about people facing the wrong direction when they sleep.
Re: “Image of the block where they slept Wednesday night via Google Streetview.”
WOW! You actually got a workable image from Google Streetview !!
No U.P.S. truck or other obstruction sitting directly in front of the address you had Googled so one cannot tell if the doorway is A.D.A.-compliant (kind of important to us scooterers)!
Of course, criticizing The Great God Google is almost like being an atheist at Sunday School — it will not win you many friends.
My daugther Katie Mace has is life since 30 years on the UWS and she sent me this story…I am living in France, in Nancy area, and I saw those guys a year ago taking the place of cars along tne side walk, with their beds during a week. But Police Dpt told them to move away as they were on the most elegant street of my city. Is it a demonstration of art ???
Sounds like the yupster nonsense that Trans Alt does with their whole “reclaiming our streets” events like Williamsburg Walks where they lay the little hipster sod in the street and play Tiddley-Winks and take selfies.
Constantly amazing how easily threatened folks are by anything different from their ordinary lives.
Dare I ask where they relieve themselves?
“They don’t know if they have weapons under there.” What an odd comment, that could only come from a silly European who doesn’t understand that in this town, use of any self-defense tool will get you a year in prison and maybe more.
I saw them last night taking up the majority of the NE corner of 79th/Broadway!
I saw them Sat. night on Broadway between 88th and 87th, and last night on W. 79th Street on the south side of the shoe store at Broadway. There were at least 3 people sleeping on Sat. late night. I found the entire thing rather strange, and am sure they couldn’t have had a good night sleeping outdoors with all the traffic, garbage trucks, buses, etc. yick. but interesting to know what they’re doing. I wonder where they use the toilet and wash up…..
Wed afternoon 10/7
They are now on the plaza of the south entrance to the IRT between 72nd & 71st. This is a heavily used route and they are very much in the way. I’m calling the cops.
Good for you. I hope the cops remove them right away. Their “project” is obnoxious and disruptive to the flow of pedestrian traffic, which is very heavy in that area.
They do sleep in the street.
They connect with local business owners and workers and use restrooms in restaurants.
Their action invites people to take the streets back, as a place for community and communication.
They’re inviting people to slow down and care.
You can call the cops, they’re not breaking any law.
Maybe you could talk with them and tell them what you think