Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Climbing the Times
When the New York Times recently remodeled their building in Manhattan, they covered it with panels of slats that make for easy handholds. Any climber would have been able to predict what would happen next.
For years, French climber Alain Robert has been climbing buildings in major cities for charity, for fun, for publicity, and for the law-breaking notoriety. On Thursday, June 5th, Robert cruised the 52 story skyscraper in New York. And as usual, he was arrested when he got to the top. One wonders what the charges were. Robert has dozens of building ascents to his credit.
No doubt if one was to press the authorities on why one shouldn’t climb tall buildings on a crowded city street, one of the reasons they’d give would be, “We don’t want to encourage people to engage in such risky, high-profile stunts.”
Almost on cue, another man, Renaldo Clarke, climbed the New York Times building shortly after Robert. Clearly it was all Robert’s fault that Clarke needed to follow suit. Clarke, unlike Robert, was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
The building managers at the New York Times must be rethinking the design of their building’s exterior panels now. ¶ Tuesday, July 22, 2008
When the New York Times recently remodeled their building in Manhattan, they covered it with panels of slats that make for easy handholds. Any climber would have been able to predict what would happen next.
For years, French climber Alain Robert has been climbing buildings in major cities for charity, for fun, for publicity, and for the law-breaking notoriety. On Thursday, June 5th, Robert cruised the 52 story skyscraper in New York. And as usual, he was arrested when he got to the top. One wonders what the charges were. Robert has dozens of building ascents to his credit.
No doubt if one was to press the authorities on why one shouldn’t climb tall buildings on a crowded city street, one of the reasons they’d give would be, “We don’t want to encourage people to engage in such risky, high-profile stunts.”
Almost on cue, another man, Renaldo Clarke, climbed the New York Times building shortly after Robert. Clearly it was all Robert’s fault that Clarke needed to follow suit. Clarke, unlike Robert, was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
The building managers at the New York Times must be rethinking the design of their building’s exterior panels now. ¶ Tuesday, July 22, 2008
