For a city with so many people, New York has a severe shortage of comfortable places to sit and enjoy the outdoors for free. That’s why this man in Spanish Harlem took matters into his own hands, transforming a police barricade into a public bench.
It’s actually a pretty ingenious bit of engineering, the way the man — who claims to have invented the idea — uses the various parts of the barricade to secure it up against the fence.
Of course, the police aren’t too thrilled about their property being reused, even if it’s just for sitting out in the shade on a hot day. The man says he is regularly rousted by NYPD, but that doesn’t seem to stop him from doing it again.
New York Shitty Street Seating Du Jour: Ingenuity [NewYorkShitty.com via Gothamist]
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Reminds me of the shopping cart ‘bbq/grill’.
http://bigdaddy-kmps.itmblog.com/files/2009/05/shopping-cart-bbq2.JPG
That is too freakin’ cool…hence, you are too freakin’ cool. ! .
+1 for first post, you’re on your ‘A’ game today !
This guy’s pretty clever. I hope he gets the chance to use his ingenuity for something that makes him a little money.
Kind of reminds me of the stuff on There, I Fixed It: http://thereifixedit.com/
You only wonder what these people could come up with if they had the resources.
What do you mean “these people” and why do you assume he lacks money or resources?
crap forgot the /s
I’m sure making assumptions about you right now.
Sorry – I addressed that in response to cmdr.sass.
I phrased that wrong and apologize for coming off like a jerk.
This …”it’s actually a pretty ingenious bit of engineering” kind of set the tone here. It struck me as akin to commenting on how “articulate” a person of color is.
is this guy a “person of color”? I didn’t read the full article on the link. Is he actually the guy in the photo?
Also ‘It’s actually a pretty ingenious bit of engineering” doesn’t really have the same tone as the “articulate” thing. I think the comment on the engineering has to do with the item alone and not the person doing it. The “these people” thing refers to the rednecks on thereifixed it, people of non-color generally.
I’ll finish with…you people* seem to always be looking for issues
*means people who read into things way too much.
Name one rich person living in Spanish Harlem…
Well. The people on ThereIfixedit (These people he referred to) tend to do home repairs with duct tape and used crap. One would assume that the people doing so are not independently wealth.
Just because you want to see racism doesn’t mean it happened here.
I meant the “There I Fixed It” people. The site’s nickname is “Redneck Repairs.”
Sorry I wasn’t clear – I realize now what I said makes me look like an asshole. This guy’s idea just reminded me of that site.
Because he’s sitting on a bench that he made out of a police barricade in front of the Projects in Spanish Harlem, and apparently does this “regularly.”
We call it ghetto-rigging around these parts. And I bet you ten bucks that if you went up to him and said, “That’s a damn fine ghetto-bench,” he’d laugh and not be offended. You shouldn’t have to be offended by proxy for him.
The manager really should have given him a refund.
I tip my receipt checkers with double downs that I make at home.
This is hilarious and awesome but I’m confused. How did he get it past that bar on top?
You turn the A-frame pieces upside down and insert through the bars. Take one cross piece and lay it horizontally to form the seat. The other cross piece is lifted OVER the fence and placed as you see in the picture. When you sit down, the A-frame leg pulls the cross piece tighter against the fence and stabilizes the bench.
It actually looks like two barricades. Barricades have three parts. Two sets of legs, and a piece of long flat wood that locks into the top of the legs. He overturned the legs, stuck them through the ballisters of the fence, then slid the top piece of wood between the legs and the fence. He then put another piece of wood across where the legs come together. When you sit on it, the legs want to tilt forward, but the piece of wood stops them from sliding back through the fence.
I hope that made sense. It’s one of those things that’s easier to show than to write out.
I think there are bench shortages by design.
Technically, I’d like to assume it’s really OUR property, since our tax payer $’s purchased those barricades, now barriChairs, in the Barrio. Good work!
Great logic, try taking home a cop car tomorrow and let me know how that works out for you.
I love clever Social Hackers!
Tax that bench.
That is freaking awesome. If people have a place to sit and rest, maybe they won’t be so crabby and want to commit crime. Get over it, NYPD!
Classic… Gotta love it….
Make him Mayor, he has ideas!
Dear NYPD
Quit leaving your shit laying around if your gonna bitch about people putting it to good use.
I think barricades are there to barricade stuff. Not just left around.