Union Station smells like urine, has a homeless problem, and is half deserted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you haven’t been to Union Station since Covid started why even comment? Union Station has always had a homeless issue but I never remember dozens of tents in Columbus Circle in front of it. It has fallen off a cliff in the past two years and I avoid it at all cost past nightfall.

+1

I lived right near there and took the Union Station metro to work in 2014-16. It had lots of eating options, was always busy with tourists and commuters and I really didn’t feel unsafe unless it was quite empty. There were homeless but nothing like the tent city that is being built during the pandemic. It just looks awful.

I used to commute via metro every day and walk from Union Station to my office, but I now drive. I do not feel safe on the public transportation available or getting off at Union Station and walking through the area near the homeless shelter. It is ridiculous that DC has allowed itself to devolve to this point. A once beautiful, vibrant city that had made so much progress has allowed itself to go to hell in a hand basket like it is back in the crack wars of the early 90s.

Same. I drive now. It takes longer and is more expensive.

But I feel much safer. My office is on 1st st. Walking down 1st street to the side entrance of Union Station after dark just simply wasn't safe. And it wasn't much better once you got inside the station

Yup, I don’t blink at the extra expense because my peace of mind is worth it. No mentally unstable homeless people screaming incoherently on the train, or groups of teens looking to rob people. Just me and a podcast in my car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This might be a silly question. Why isn’t the mall filled with homeless people panhandling?

Give give the DC politicians time. It’s coming. At NYP right now 100% nicer than DC even though it is still pretty gross.

It’s not coming. The Park Police have zero tolerance for any shenanigans on the National Mall. Want to sell water? End up in handcuffs. Want to camp? You won’t last more than a minute.

[Anonymous]

Gosh this thread is making me feel better about turning down a job over between Union and Judiciary. I really would have loved it, but I spent some time over there to test the commute, and I felt really unsafe. It was late afternoon, some of the streets were pretty desolate, and there were more than what I expected in terms of people seeming to be really ill or addicted (e.g., shirtless and screaming in the street and blocking traffic). I used to work over in the area about 10 years ago, and it was on its way up. This was my first time over there in probably five years, and I was really shocked. I thought about how I’d commute after dark, and I just thought it would be kind of nerve-wracking given my gender and size. But I really would have loved the job, and I can honestly say the main reason I turned it down was not wanting to work in that area after seeing it. The whole thing is really sad. People really need medical help, like long-term, consistent, quality help, and they aren’t getting it. They need homes too, for sure, but it seems to me the medical help needs to come first or concurrently. Ignoring this aspect of the issue doesn’t seem humane to me, but what do I know, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh this thread is making me feel better about turning down a job over between Union and Judiciary. I really would have loved it, but I spent some time over there to test the commute, and I felt really unsafe. It was late afternoon, some of the streets were pretty desolate, and there were more than what I expected in terms of people seeming to be really ill or addicted (e.g., shirtless and screaming in the street and blocking traffic). I used to work over in the area about 10 years ago, and it was on its way up. This was my first time over there in probably five years, and I was really shocked. I thought about how I’d commute after dark, and I just thought it would be kind of nerve-wracking given my gender and size. But I really would have loved the job, and I can honestly say the main reason I turned it down was not wanting to work in that area after seeing it. The whole thing is really sad. People really need medical help, like long-term, consistent, quality help, and they aren’t getting it. They need homes too, for sure, but it seems to me the medical help needs to come first or concurrently. Ignoring this aspect of the issue doesn’t seem humane to me, but what do I know, I guess.

If not a jail or mental hospital, then they need a mega halfway house far from society with floor monitors and daily inspections. Only leave the premises with an escort. Kind of like a prison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union Station has had a homeless problem since Ronald Reagan was elected and de-institutionalized the mentally ill. The only thing that's changed in what you are reporting is that many shops in the Station have closed. So have they closed everywhere.

Then FFS let's re-institutionalize people who refuse to get treatment for severe mental illness and drug addiction. Help them and get them off the streets where they're menacing everyone else. Two birds with one stone.

That costs $$$$ and we only have $$$$ for trillion dollar jets to bomb people with.

[Anonymous]

Union Station is what a progressive utopia looks like. No enforcement of rules if you meet certain victimization requirements.

[Anonymous]

Another OD at Union Station

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Union Station is what a progressive utopia looks like. No enforcement of rules if you meet certain victimization requirements.

^ This is the stupidity that rattles around in right-wing skullcases

[Anonymous]

Over the weekend, I was in a DC supermarket and the police were handcuffing a homeless man for destroying the men's restroom. I heard staff calling for"broken glass" clean up in the men's restroom. It sounded pretty bad. And the man smelled atrocious.

They are destroying just about every restroom they have access to. Where are the rest of us to go?

No one will go against the status quo and admit there's a critical need to involuntary commit these people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union Station has had a homeless problem since Ronald Reagan was elected and de-institutionalized the mentally ill. The only thing that's changed in what you are reporting is that many shops in the Station have closed. So have they closed everywhere.

Then FFS let's re-institutionalize people who refuse to get treatment for severe mental illness and drug addiction. Help them and get them off the streets where they're menacing everyone else. Two birds with one stone.

That costs $$$$ and we only have $$$$ for trillion dollar jets to bomb people with.

BS

We spend billions of dollars on the ‘business of homelessness’ in this country. Plenty of money thrown at the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union Station is what a progressive utopia looks like. No enforcement of rules if you meet certain victimization requirements.

Pretty much the truth. You can’t ignore that it is ‘progressive’ public policy that has certain consequences.

+1

[Anonymous]

Over the weekend a homeless man tried to get in the locked front door of my building to use the restroom.

[Anonymous]

And it’s policed by 3 different agencies: DCMPD, Metro Transit Police and Amtrak Police. Not sure what they actually do all day….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And it’s policed by 3 different agencies: DCMPD, Metro Transit Police and Amtrak Police. Not sure what they actually do all day….

Nah, that’s all Amtrak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Had opposite experience from PP. Had not been to NYC since the refurbished Penn Station opened and was astonished to find that the former armpit of Amtrak was now this pristine marble space age station. However, week later was at Union Station at 9:30 PM waiting on DC to arrive on train and a homeless woman was ranting---quite angrily and loudly---in a way that was unnerving and threatening to everyone in the waiting area. It took far longer than it should have for the security to intervene and calm her down.

Prior to Covid I was taking Marc and metro for a decade and this has always been an issue. One of my law school classmates was almost attacked by a homeless man in a metro train who was screaming at her crazily. I have been yelled at and spit on by people outside of union station.

The homelessness problem is out of control. The shelter a few blocks from union station kicks people out at 5 am and where else are they supposed to go all day?

They could take a shower at the shelter and get a job, you know, work.

They are severely mentally ill ranting people. Do you know anyone hiring those types? I don't.