Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Wifi kiosks attract homeless


From CBS 2:

Superfast, free wi-fi is rolling out across New York City.

Payphones are being replaced with high-tech kiosks that offer internet access and smartphone charging, but some fear they’re becoming hotspots for the homeless.

It’s part of an effort to help the one in four New Yorkers who don’t have high-speed internet access at home.

But people making themselves comfortable at the kiosks – many of them homeless – is already an issue for some New Yorkers who have taken to documenting the problem on social media.

15 comments:

(sarc) said...

Most of those who have no internet at home are most likely the older generation that chooses to do so.

I am sure that most of the homeless have Obamaphones.

The libraries are available for all...

Anonymous said...

Yea because what we need is more shit on our sidewalks

Anonymous said...

We knew this would happen! Idiots!

Anonymous said...

Yep. The homeless are now camping out on Third Avenue at 35th Street, and 37th street in mid-town Manhattan, next to these worthless pieces of sidewalk blocking junk. Also, to be clear, these have not "replaced" pay phones. The crappy payphones remain, on the same block. These worthless wi-fi towers have only added to clogging the sidewalks. More junk. More crap. More homeless. Thank you, Asshole Mayor.

Anonymous said...

Not surprised at all. Just look at the many abandoned old phone "booths" all around the city. Smeared with human excrement and reeking of urine .The homeless and drunkards use them as personal porta potties.

JQ LLC said...

Ha ha ha

How didn't these officials and tech contractors and providers know about this demographic?

I totally condone this. At least they are being used. I have yet to see these being used by these so-called millenials or anyone else even.

Res Ipsa said...

I checked one out this weekend. A good idea, in theory. These are the types of amenities that you see in cleaner, less dense cities. Unfortunately, I saw them used by some apparently homeless characters. I suspect that eventually, like libraries and other public spaces, these will be overtaken by homeless folks.

Anonymous said...

Who doesn't like the smell of urine in the morning? It smells like.....DuhBlazio!

Unknown said...

Live and let live could be applied to so much of our obsessively judgement based internet world. That said program in time limits for a user 20 minutes a day, weekly or whatever and bring back aggressive policing to move people along and out of the flow of pedestrian traffic.

Anonymous said...

Will the kiosks have toilet paper???

Joe Moretti said...

What doesn’t the homeless fuck up (especially those single men). Well, besides using the subway stations as their home, stinking up entire cars on the subway making hard working people go to another car because of the homeless stench. littering and fucking up parks, add another thing they are fucking up, Free Wi-Fi Kiosks.

And since Jamaica is the first in Queens to get these Kiosks and we have so many homeless due to the dumping of dozen of homeless shelters in the area, is this going to be another fucking issue we have to deal with in this community.

I always thought this Wi-Fi Kiosks thing was a waste of money and bad idea because of this kind of bullshit, that I don’t think anyone was expecting.

It never fucking ends especially with all the single homeless men who are a detriment to everything because of their poor choices they made in life.

kapimap said...

You people are confusing the homeless with derelict crazies that roam the city. Many people are homeless because of broken homes, lost jobs, inability to work.

Those wifi stations are crap anyway. Do you really need an actual dock? Wouldnt just having a free signal every couple of blocks enough?

Anonymous said...

If you're charging your phone, I can see being there for 30 minutes or so. Not that I want to stand in the street that long to charge my phone, but to each their own.

But, what better unit for DuhBlazio's Utopia...it's a wifi hotspot, internet access, charging station, homeless hitching post, and urinal all in one.

Anonymous said...

No shit Sherlock! Well, what did you expect?! And, what do you think will happen at all those money grabbing

Joe Moretti said...

Blogger kapimap said...

You people are confusing the homeless with derelict crazies that roam the city. Many people are homeless because of broken homes, lost jobs, inability to work.
--------------------------------

No confusion, many homeless are derelict crazies that roam the city. That certainly sounds like the definition of NYC homeless. Many people are homeless because they are junkies, druggies, alcoholics, lazy, poor choices in life, need I go on. Hence why the government always had 5% unemployment as good, knowing that even in the best of times with jobs for everyone, 5% of the population will always be lazy ass society fuck-ups.

Sure some are due to lost jobs. The inability to work, depending on the situation, one can apply for disability.

Let's not be like Billy Boy and not be very clear on the homeless situation in this city.