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.

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….

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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