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

[Anonymous]

NYC's Moynihan station will be like Penn Station and Union Station in about a year. I have already spied one or two homeless camped out there already.
NYC's Grand Central Terminal doesn't have this problem. It still attracts commuters to sit, eat and shop. Wonder why enforcement is selective in these public spaces. Is it because the Metro North commuters are generally high income so there is more effort to keep them using the station?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not so new, actually. The problem is that the rest of DC has turned into Union Station. But Union Station has pretty much always been that way.

It’s been worse the last few years and has fallen off a cliff since COVID. Believe it or not but there was a time when Union Station had high end retail and fine dining.

I attended law school in DC ‘97-‘00; during that time Union Station was clean, bustling with people and filled with shops and many eateries including a very swank fine dining restaurant I never got a chance to visit. It had a movie theater that was always busy. The bathrooms were fine. I never felt unsafe there but was usually meeting other people.

I’m sorry to hear it is so different now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NYC's Moynihan station will be like Penn Station and Union Station in about a year. I have already spied one or two homeless camped out there already.
NYC's Grand Central Terminal doesn't have this problem. It still attracts commuters to sit, eat and shop. Wonder why enforcement is selective in these public spaces. Is it because the Metro North commuters are generally high income so there is more effort to keep them using the station?

Grand Central is in a more “central” and upscale area of Manhattan. Park Avenue literally runs through it and it’s surrounded by finance to the north and classic pre-war residential buildings to the south. It’s a community resource used for more than just commuting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not so new, actually. The problem is that the rest of DC has turned into Union Station. But Union Station has pretty much always been that way.

It’s been worse the last few years and has fallen off a cliff since COVID. Believe it or not but there was a time when Union Station had high end retail and fine dining.

I attended law school in DC ‘97-‘00; during that time Union Station was clean, bustling with people and filled with shops and many eateries including a very swank fine dining restaurant I never got a chance to visit. It had a movie theater that was always busy. The bathrooms were fine. I never felt unsafe there but was usually meeting other people.

I’m sorry to hear it is so different now.

We are too, and apparently we DC residents are powerless to change it because it belongs to Amtrak and Dept of Transport. With that being said, couldn't eleanor holmes norton and Bowser lodge a formal complaint with them? I get tired of the, "it's not ours so we can't do anything" excusism in a city like ours with complicated jurisdictions and oversight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYC's Moynihan station will be like Penn Station and Union Station in about a year. I have already spied one or two homeless camped out there already.
NYC's Grand Central Terminal doesn't have this problem. It still attracts commuters to sit, eat and shop. Wonder why enforcement is selective in these public spaces. Is it because the Metro North commuters are generally high income so there is more effort to keep them using the station?

Grand Central is in a more “central” and upscale area of Manhattan. Park Avenue literally runs through it and it’s surrounded by finance to the north and classic pre-war residential buildings to the south. It’s a community resource used for more than just commuting.

Oh please. Penn Station is in a perfectly bustling part of Manhattan where MSG is. When I lived in NY (moved in 2020) I actually didn't see a ton of homeless people in Penn station.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not so new, actually. The problem is that the rest of DC has turned into Union Station. But Union Station has pretty much always been that way.

It’s been worse the last few years and has fallen off a cliff since COVID. Believe it or not but there was a time when Union Station had high end retail and fine dining.

I attended law school in DC ‘97-‘00; during that time Union Station was clean, bustling with people and filled with shops and many eateries including a very swank fine dining restaurant I never got a chance to visit. It had a movie theater that was always busy. The bathrooms were fine. I never felt unsafe there but was usually meeting other people.

I’m sorry to hear it is so different now.

We are too, and apparently we DC residents are powerless to change it because it belongs to Amtrak and Dept of Transport. With that being said, couldn't eleanor holmes norton and Bowser lodge a formal complaint with them? I get tired of the, "it's not ours so we can't do anything" excusism in a city like ours with complicated jurisdictions and oversight.

Like DC politicians have the will or backbone to do something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not so new, actually. The problem is that the rest of DC has turned into Union Station. But Union Station has pretty much always been that way.

It’s been worse the last few years and has fallen off a cliff since COVID. Believe it or not but there was a time when Union Station had high end retail and fine dining.

I attended law school in DC ‘97-‘00; during that time Union Station was clean, bustling with people and filled with shops and many eateries including a very swank fine dining restaurant I never got a chance to visit. It had a movie theater that was always busy. The bathrooms were fine. I never felt unsafe there but was usually meeting other people.

I’m sorry to hear it is so different now.

We are too, and apparently we DC residents are powerless to change it because it belongs to Amtrak and Dept of Transport. With that being said, couldn't eleanor holmes norton and Bowser lodge a formal complaint with them? I get tired of the, "it's not ours so we can't do anything" excusism in a city like ours with complicated jurisdictions and oversight.

Like DC politicians have the will or backbone to do something like that.

I mean, go hold a presser in the hideous sewer system that is the public bathroom there. Shame Amtrak and Pete Buttgieg to action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not so new, actually. The problem is that the rest of DC has turned into Union Station. But Union Station has pretty much always been that way.

It’s been worse the last few years and has fallen off a cliff since COVID. Believe it or not but there was a time when Union Station had high end retail and fine dining.

I attended law school in DC ‘97-‘00; during that time Union Station was clean, bustling with people and filled with shops and many eateries including a very swank fine dining restaurant I never got a chance to visit. It had a movie theater that was always busy. The bathrooms were fine. I never felt unsafe there but was usually meeting other people.

I’m sorry to hear it is so different now.

We are too, and apparently we DC residents are powerless to change it because it belongs to Amtrak and Dept of Transport. With that being said, couldn't eleanor holmes norton and Bowser lodge a formal complaint with them? I get tired of the, "it's not ours so we can't do anything" excusism in a city like ours with complicated jurisdictions and oversight.

Like DC politicians have the will or backbone to do something like that.

I mean, go hold a presser in the hideous sewer system that is the public bathroom there. Shame Amtrak and Pete Buttgieg to action.

It honestly makes me think they never take the train.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYC's Moynihan station will be like Penn Station and Union Station in about a year. I have already spied one or two homeless camped out there already.
NYC's Grand Central Terminal doesn't have this problem. It still attracts commuters to sit, eat and shop. Wonder why enforcement is selective in these public spaces. Is it because the Metro North commuters are generally high income so there is more effort to keep them using the station?

Grand Central is in a more “central” and upscale area of Manhattan. Park Avenue literally runs through it and it’s surrounded by finance to the north and classic pre-war residential buildings to the south. It’s a community resource used for more than just commuting.

Oh please. Penn Station is in a perfectly bustling part of Manhattan where MSG is. When I lived in NY (moved in 2020) I actually didn't see a ton of homeless people in Penn station.

??? The area immediately surrounding Penn Station is dead. If you go a little ways you hit new areas like Hudson Yard and the Highline/Meat Packing. But the idea that the blocks surrounding Penn Station have any sort of vibrancy is just absolutely false, unless you enjoy Sbarro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYC's Moynihan station will be like Penn Station and Union Station in about a year. I have already spied one or two homeless camped out there already.
NYC's Grand Central Terminal doesn't have this problem. It still attracts commuters to sit, eat and shop. Wonder why enforcement is selective in these public spaces. Is it because the Metro North commuters are generally high income so there is more effort to keep them using the station?

Grand Central is in a more “central” and upscale area of Manhattan. Park Avenue literally runs through it and it’s surrounded by finance to the north and classic pre-war residential buildings to the south. It’s a community resource used for more than just commuting.

Oh please. Penn Station is in a perfectly bustling part of Manhattan where MSG is. When I lived in NY (moved in 2020) I actually didn't see a ton of homeless people in Penn station.

Umm, that's not really true at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYC's Moynihan station will be like Penn Station and Union Station in about a year. I have already spied one or two homeless camped out there already.
NYC's Grand Central Terminal doesn't have this problem. It still attracts commuters to sit, eat and shop. Wonder why enforcement is selective in these public spaces. Is it because the Metro North commuters are generally high income so there is more effort to keep them using the station?

Grand Central is in a more “central” and upscale area of Manhattan. Park Avenue literally runs through it and it’s surrounded by finance to the north and classic pre-war residential buildings to the south. It’s a community resource used for more than just commuting.

Oh please. Penn Station is in a perfectly bustling part of Manhattan where MSG is. When I lived in NY (moved in 2020) I actually didn't see a ton of homeless people in Penn station.

??? The area immediately surrounding Penn Station is dead. If you go a little ways you hit new areas like Hudson Yard and the Highline/Meat Packing. But the idea that the blocks surrounding Penn Station have any sort of vibrancy is just absolutely false, unless you enjoy Sbarro.

+1

The area around Penn Station is not bustling. At all.

[Anonymous]

Once upon a time, homelessness / vagrancy / unhoused (whatever euphemism one wants to use) was a stigma. It was a state of true destitution.

At some point in the last 10 years, it has become permissible.
When the tents go up, it's a lifestyle.

Next step - protected class status.

[Anonymous]

Regards "lifestyle" -
I have a sibling whom one could consider homeless.
Sibling went thru an ugly divorce a few years ago where sibling lost the house, kids and job. Since then sibling has lost any ambition.
Sibling has 2-3M in the bank. No substance abuse issues. Stanford phd.

Most of the time sibling couch surfs with friends or family. If not couch surfing, it's youth hostels, camping in public parks or sleeping in the van.
Spends the days tooling stocks. Refuses to consider any other way of living.
All of this on the west coast because this lifestyle is allowable there.

[Anonymous]

Someone needs to get the homeless people completely out of union station.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to get the homeless people completely out of union station.

Amtrak and Pete Buttagieg? Who actually manages and administrates this historic property?