BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Several elected officials spanning the spectrum from city to state to federal are drawing on their shared identity as NYC commuters to stand up for the reasonable expectation of having a place to sit down.

Sent from the office of NYS Senator Brad Hoylman and undersigned by those including Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, District 3 NYC Councilmember Erik Bottcher, and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, the letter to the CEOs of Amtrak and the MTA is dated February 3—a little over a year since January 1, 2021’s debut of the much-ballyhooed Moynihan Train Hall. Located between Eighth and Ninth Aves. from West 31st to 33rd Streets, the towering transit hub is praised by the pols as a “spectacular public space” that nonetheless spent its first full holiday season carving a nefarious niche for itself, as the nexus where “hundreds” of Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road passengers “were seen sitting on the floor, while scores of others roamed the station looking for places to sit.”

In a case of passive aggressive minimalism gone amok, the $1.6 billion station’s zero tolerance policy for seats, stools, and benches throughout its highly trafficked public areas produces a daily pageant of desperate, floor-based tushie-parking played out by passengers and those who’ve come to see them off or welcome them to town.

Longtime West Chelsea resident Pamela Wolff recalls a visit of a few months ago, her first time inside the Hall, for what should have been a hassle-free meeting of her teenaged granddaughter and a friend, both traveling down from Hudson to spend “an exciting weekend in our great city as my guests.” Arriving about 15 minutes early (“to get my bearings and situate myself to greet them as they emerged”), news of a 20-minute delay found Wolff “looking for a place to pass the time in comfort. I approached the waiting room at the east end of the hall, but was told that I could only access the seating area if I were a ticketed passenger.”

Being in her mid-80s and with “knees of questionable facility,” sitting on the hard floor was not an option. Wolff “watched with envy as some people sat on their suitcases” and was told by a security guard, “There was nowhere inside the station. I would have to go outside—in the cold—to find a seat. By now it was again time to meet the girls, but no! There was another delay in arrival. Another 20 minutes!” Wolff finally found a free spot on the south side of the hall, outside the snack shop, “and set my aching back up against it. Mercifully, the girls found me there. We cabbed it home instead of the walk I planned for—and would have enjoyed.”

It turns out Wolff’s unreliable knees might have saved her from breaking that decades-long achievement of maintaining a clean criminal record. According to the train hall’s Code of Conduct, “lying or sitting down on the ground” is not permitted, and leaves the offending party “subject to removal from the property and/or subject to criminal prosecution.” Indeed, as the electeds’ letter notes, “Last summer, travelers who sat on the floor of the train hall were asked to stand up by Amtrak employees.” Such scofflaws, if not fodder for removal, are encouraged to have a seat in the limited capacity area off to the far side of the station that failed to provide Wolff with sweet relief. (Under the guise of a “friend of ticketholder in waiting,” this reporter was waived in over the weekend by the area’s nicely tempered but physically formidable gatekeeper.)

Even for the 100% above board traveler, the seating area’s distance from the hub’s hubbub makes it a non-choice. Chelsea Community News spoke with a married couple from Philadelphia, who find themselves in Moynihan Train Hall about once a month, when visiting their NYC-based relatives.

Declining to identify themselves by name—but possessing an air of compact Philly confidence that discourages one from breaking out the polygraph to fact-checked their freely offered opinion, the couple said, of the side area, “Nobody wants to be that far from the gateway. By the time they announce your train and you get over there, you’re likely to be at the end of the cue.”

The husband and wife both gave nods of recognition when told of the letter, and its firm jab at what many believe to be the real reason behind the lack of seating. “We are aware,” the letter reads, “that a number of unhoused individuals frequent this neighborhood, which might cause some concerns.”

“It’s a very aggressive way of addressing a larger social issue,” said the wife, noting, “Philly has seating along the gates, and the same people coming and going that New York City does. But we don’t seem to have the same ‘problem’  with them.” The couple seemed in agreement when told the letter goes on to acknowledge the use of public spaces by unhoused (aka homeless) individuals is a “valid issue” that “should be addressed with services and outreach, instead of an exclusionary design plan that punishes transit users.” Those users, the electeds noted, include “older adults, people with disabilities, and adults traveling with young children,” all of whom “deserve a clean, safe, and comfortable place to wait for their train.”

With nearly a week having passed since the letter was sent, Hoylman’s office said they have yet to hear back from Amtrak CEO William J. Flynn 
or MTA CEO/Chair Janno Lieber. Chelsea Community News’ own outreach to Media Relations for the NYC area was met with the same result.

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