I love how cities and designers go out of their way to not build the typical wood benches we've had for hundreds of years until we decided they were homeless-friendly.

After all, if you're homeless you have more rights to public property than old people that just need to sit down.

oil and gas companies have even more rights to public property

Well let's just get rid of oil and gas companies then. What are the consequences of that?

I'm slim enough to still lay down on that

Benches already have two arms.

On these benches, there's not enough space between the two arms for two people to sit comfortably, yet there is enough space between the arms to require an extraordinarily agile "old person" to be able to use both arms simultaneously to get up..

It's always refreshing to find someone who thinks "old people" were just invented this year though.

also, what makes a bench "temperature resistant?"

You're not 1/3 of the homeless, which apparently this bench wasn't made for.

https://hms.harvard.edu/news/one-third-us-homeless-are-obese

Ask boston.gov.

Benches need to be temperature-resistant. People should be able to enjoy them regardless of temperature!

https://www.boston.gov/departments/age-strong-commission/age-friendly-boston/age-friendly-benches

There's also a great interactive map where you can find one near you, so you can go sit on it.

if the City just hired homeless people to keep the benches warm until an old person wanted to sit down, they'd solve both problems.

Those armrests look very uncomfortable. Those will only work in winter if you’re wearing a thick coat.

Unless you're homeless. Then you can just remain perpetually vertical until the day you're perpetually horizontal, I guess.

Lol, have you ever tried asking a homeless person camping on public property to move?

I can honestly say I haven't ever asked anyone on a bench to move.

What did homeless people to do you, you sour bastard?

Unlike you, I don't blame a collective for an individual's actions.

They have rights, but fewer rights than what they often take. This means, that they don't get to camp out on a bench meant for everyone. Public property doesn't mean that it's owned by any particular hobo.

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more benches, hopefully.

Construct metal benches without the use of oil or gas? Is that made by a blacksmith in a coal furnace?

These benches are absolutely not designed to be 'age friendly' what a joke. They are to prevent ppl from lying down. Shameful display

Love these. Plenty of opportunity for an older person to get leverage and life themselves up, and discourages homeless people sleeping on the benches.

People can definitely lie down on them, they just put their body under the center railing. If it was truly a homeless deterrent they’d put two rails extending from the center armrest to the seat.

I think they are doing better than the average US adult on that regard

The MBTA is still chasing these terrorists who took it upon themselves to remove the extra arm-rests from the benches in Central two years ago.. I'm surprised they haven't put a price on their heads yet..

Don’t get why do benches need to be comfortable for people to sleep on? Is that why we have benches? I thought they were for sitting.

What sort of "ppl" lie down on public benches? How long do they lie down for? Is it appropriate for someone to take over a public bench made for 2 people?

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it's not the benches ought to be designed to lay down, it's that this is a form of "hostile design" specifically intended to deter it and deprive unhoused folks of simple comforts. benches were fine for hundreds of years with the normal bench design, it's not a coincidence that you see different ones popping up over the last couple of decades disguised as things like "benches made for the elderly!" -- from OPs comments it's clear that they have a lot of hostility and resentment toward unhoused people and it's hard to believe that wasn't behind why they decided to take the effort and time out of their day to post this.

I'm sure my fans would agree with you.

So called "unhoused people" are human beings. Many of which are what you would call "voluntary homeless." In fact there is a subreddit (that I'll let you find) where redditors talk about how to just be bums, "hang signs," live on the streets and otherwise just be parasitic on society.

The real homeless are people who are down on their luck, don't want to live on the street or are disabled. Society should find a place for them where they don't have to rest on public sidewalks.

Why is it bad to lie down on a bench?

Because it's a public resource meant for 2 people and not just you.

What if it's just at night? What if they got up if someone asked? Why don't they make more benches or single seat armchairs instead of these things? No doubt you wouldn't sit right next to a homeless person anyways so why do you care so much about this?

> What if it's just at night?

So you would have these people sleep in the elements. How progressive of you.

> What if they got up if someone asked?

What if they don't?

>Why don't they make more benches or single seat armchairs instead of these things?

Apparently, your imaginary scenario has some imaginary logistics and imaginary budgets for public benches. I'm just glad that they are -they exist as they are.

If you are a public bench manufacturer, then I'm sure that you can offer Boston a deal on their bid. But I'm also sure that you are just some armchair quarterback, pretending that you know better than the contractors and the other experts who deal with this on a daily basis.

>No doubt you wouldn't sit right next to a homeless person anyways so why do you care so much about this?

Same back to you. Why do you care? The fact is that you are just ostentatiously pretending to care so much about the homeless. The same homeless that you think belong on the streets, in all sorts of weather and otherwise making a mess of a shared public space.

edit: grammar.

And if the new bench means more people sitting, that is a bad thing?

I don't think those arguments were explained well. I can tell your mad but why did you made all those assumptions? Seems to me like your point of view can't stand up on its own without attacking ppl who agree with you.

> why did you made all those assumptions?

Back at you.

Here are your assumptions:

> I can tell your mad

> No doubt you wouldn't sit right next to a homeless person

It's you that are attacking me for holding a realistic opinion that is simply different than yours.

You seem to think that people sleeping on public benches are somehow more deserving of the public space than anyone else. You go so far as to assume that adding a handle to the middle of the bench is somehow against the hobos. It's not. The central handle helps elderly people stand up from a seated position.