why does the area immediately outside penn station look and smell like crap?

[Al B. Sure!]

Wait, didn't believe what? I think I wan't clear enough - so were your GF's Croatian grandparents most angry that their child married a black person, or where her black grandparents angry that their child married a Croat?

there was no marriage. she was born out of wedlock.

[KrazyHorse]

What, KH isn't part of the Bridge and Tunnel crowd?

I actually managed to just spend a month without going above 14th St.

Unfortunately I had to leave the city this weekend for the benighted land of Boston

[Al B. Sure!]

I actually managed to just spend a month without going above 14th St.

Unfortunately I had to leave the city this weekend for the benighted land of Boston

Too bad you weren't around. I would go to NYC to punch you in the face

[GePap]

I actually managed to just spend a month without going above 14th St.

Unfortunately I had to leave the city this weekend for the benighted land of Boston

No way you can truly enjoy NYC without going far and wide - not only in Manhattan but Brooklyn, Queens, even the Bronx has great parts (Staten Island you can skip).

[Al B. Sure!]

No way you can truly enjoy NYC without going far and wide - not only in Manhattan but Brooklyn, Queens, even the Bronx has great parts (Staten Island you can skip).

KH has already made it clear. He doesn't want to be near the rank and file.

[Az]

[q]why does the area immediately outside penn station look and smell like crap?
You'd think they'd want to make a good first impression or something.[q/]

IIRC, This is actually a rather well-research issue in urban development. Transport hubs located in the inner city are almost always ****, and it takes a whole toolbox of solutions from various city hall bureaucrats to stop this from happening.

[Al B. Sure!]

Well it's where homeless bums hang out because it offers the most panhandling opportunities. That's the real reason. Plus drunk people on Friday and Saturday night taking public transit and wanting to make a piss stop.

Of course someone from a gated community, like Kuci, would not know that.

[onodera]

Aren't there cops to beat homeless people up and chase them away for panhandling?

[Al B. Sure!]

Aren't there cops to beat homeless people up and chase them away for panhandling?

Normally I would say no... but this is New York and I seem to recall Giuliani practically criminalizing being homeless so... possibly yes.

How do they handle the homeless in Soviet Union?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Russian winters and moonshine made of brake fluid means nobody's homeless for more than a year.

[onodera]

How do they handle the homeless in Soviet Union?

You mean, how DID they handle them? Both winos and the homeless were sent to activity therapy centres, where they were put back on track through performing useful activities for the society. Yes, I mean labour camps.
Right now they do not handle them at all. Yes, break fluid and cold help, but I wish they didn't let them ride the metro, at least. They contaminate half the carriage with their smell.

[Boris Godunov]

IIRC, This is actually a rather well-research issue in urban development. Transport hubs located in the inner city are almost always ****, and it takes a whole toolbox of solutions from various city hall bureaucrats to stop this from happening.

The area around Grand Central isn't nearly as bad. Why? Because Penn Station is bringing in people from... New Jersey!

[KrazyHorse]

Penn station is also near the Garden and not too far from Times Square

****ing tourist haven.

Grand central is mostly commuter rail to Connecticut.

[KrazyHorse]

We might end up moving to near GC next year. My wife takes the Connecticut train from there every day, and it would cut down her commute to move closer (and not cost me too much extra time)

Other plus is that it's cheaper than where I currently live, while the minus is that it's not nearly so fun.

[GePap]

Grand Central Terminal is the final stop for all commuter rail traffic coming in from the North on Metro North (CT as well as Upstate NY). Penn Station is the main rail hub, housing Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and the Long Island Railroad trains.

The original Penn Station was a grand station, a rival to GC, and its demolition to make way for the ugly replacement is what started the building conservation movement in NYC.