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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