The homeless man known as Monk who likes to spend time in front of the Victoria’s Secret store on Broadway and 85th street was greeted by about a dozen police officers this weekend after appearing on the front of the New York Post peeing on the street.
The Post story said that in addition to peeing in the street he was acting in a menacing way, at one point even brandishing a broken bottle.
The tipster who sent in the photo above said at least a dozen cops were there to detain him. “This guy needs help, not handcuffs,” she wrote. We have heard from readers that Monk, who has been in the neighborhood for years, has seemed more disturbed and reckless recently.
The Post reported that he was taken to both St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals over the weekend but quickly released onto the same corner.
Upper West Siders have reached out to us to express that they’re distressed about the man’s condition, and the portrayal in the paper. Wrote one:
“I’m sure you’ve seen this guy – he has been homeless not he UWS for at least 10 years. My friend tried to help him once, offering him clean socks and hygiene products, but he wouldn’t take them.
So sad that the NY Post suddenly jumps on this. He’s been around forever. I wish the city could help him, rather than make him seem like a threat – which he never seemed to be.”
The Post series attempts to portray a growing street homelessness problem, although the numbers don’t seem to bear this out: the most recent street survey, conducted by volunteers, indicated a 5% decrease in street homelessness. There is a serious and growing homelessness problem that has escalated in the past decade — but the problem has more to do with a growing number of homeless people placed in inadequate shelters without mental health care. Many of those shelters are on the Upper West Side.
Oh no! There go the police harrassing people again! Why don’t you take him in to your home and care for him for a few months, and then the next idiot NY-er can do the same, and then again and again and again. When this disturbed individual jumps out in front of you and has finally gotten to the delusional point of being Hitler and hurts someone, you will all be crying “where are the Cops, Look, they are not doing their job” Shut-up, just SHUT UP already!
Geoffrey, I posted the reply to Mark and by mistake addressed it to you. My apologies.
On Sunday mornings back in the mid-to-late 1980’s, this now-homeless man used to sell sections of the NY Times for 25 cents each. It was a pleasure to purchase only the section I wanted to read. I don’t know how he obtained them, but they were clean (i.e.: not pulled out of the garbage), and he had an unlimited amount.
You sound like a charming humanitarian.
You wish the city could help? Sorry, those days are long gone. Once upon a time this guy and many of the mentally ill homeless would be in Bellevue or similar places. But then it was decided these people had rights and couldn’t just be dumped at Bellevue. Has the pendulum swung to far to the left? You decide
Thank the (Democrat) Kennedy family for that – they were the push behind the movement to deinstitutionalize patients (inspired by their own experience with their own sibling Rosemary, who the Joseph Kennedy, the father approved of a partial lobotomy rendering her incompetent).
Do-gooders often have no clue as to the implications of their goodness.
I agree with you about the end result, but the path to where we are today differs a bit: The deinstitutionalization movement is not a direct result of Kennedy. A lot of this was done at the state—not federal–level. It began with the closure of asylums and state hospitals. It gained momentum about a decade after Kennedy and by 1974, we see the closure of the larger facilities and growth of the shelters and revolving-door treatment strategies of today…
We just witnessed a revolving door: “The Monk” is already back on the street.
In the 1970’s, the reason given for the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill was the protection of their civil rights – and there were some cases, indeed, of injustice. But the taxpayers’ cost of maintaining care was far from absent in the calculation.
Now I read in a “USA Today” about a 2002 study of 4,600 NYC homeless conducted over a nine-year period: It concluded that the homeless “who remained on the street, shuffling from jails and hospitals” cost the taxpayer $40,451 a year, while those “placed in supportive housing cost $17,277 to house.”
Before staying outside Vixtoria’s Secret, this man was at the NW corner of 8oth & Broadway, right in front of Zabar’s. I always wondered if Zabar’s, with the help of NYPD or other city officials, was able to get him to move from that spot.
I live a few blocks away and have seen the police deal with him in the past. His problems go way beyond homelessness, and I’ve seen him refuse help in the past.
“He’s been around forever” and he never seemed to be a threat. Basically saying, he’s harmless? – Until he’s not!! Brandishing a broken bottle appears threatening to me.
I live on 83rd and pass by this guy way more than I’d like to on my to subway/Zabar’s/etc. I’ve seen his penis on several occasions which is distressing (was he exposing himself on the subway we’d all be calling him a sexual offender) and I’ve seen him on more than a dozen occasions screaming at people that range from adults to moms with small children. I’ve also witnessed him on many occasions romping along on the road (on Broadway) in the dark nearly getting hit by drivers who were doing nothing but driving safely and don’t deserve to be traumatized by hitting this guy. He needs to be institutionalized.
There’s already a UWS-er here….
Over a year ago I saw him outside Zabar’s. I phoned 311 to ask that they pick him up and take him to a shelter. It was winter and all he had on was a blanket. I thought he could have a bath and a meal, but the next day he was still there, so either he refused the help, or else he just returned once they released him. He certainly can be hostile, and I try to keep far afield of him.
I am so glad to see this being posted as I also saw the NY Post and was very upset to see him being labeled a pest and a menace. This man is mentally ill and he needs help. As an Australian living legally on the UWS I find it very sad we feel such anger towards these people instead of thinking we should be paying taxes to help people that can’t help themselves/need help. He is mentally ill not a menace. We don’t choose to be mentally ill. Yes some choose to be homeless but this man doesn’t know what he is doing. I have seen him deteriorate over the past year and he’s probably only going to get worse without the help he needs. I always feel sad when I walk past him in the neighbourhood.
He has not chosen to be mentally ill. True
He has chosen not to be helped. True
He does many noxious things that sicken many of his neighbors. True
Some mentally ill people are dangerous. True
What do you propose Eliza?
How do you help someone who does not wish to be helped?
it’s true that sometimes we don’t choose to be mentally ill, but we don’t know if he was born that way or if he fried his brain on drugs. Either way it’s sad, but it sounds like he’s exposing himself and threatening others, which is dangerous and needs to be dealt with regardless or not of whether he’s interested in that
get back to me after he’s screamed and brandished objects at you, exposed himself to your 5 year old niece and verbally assaulted you upon leaving a store (all things I’ve witnessed).
Funny, because I’ve walked past him (literally) every single day for 4 years and haven’t witnessed any of that.
let me extend my sympathies to you if you literally haven’t left the city in years and extend my congratulations to you that you’ve been so healthy that you’ve not stayed home and been ill in years.
lol
why isn’t he just made to “disappear”
because the US is not Iran?
adding more: this guy tossed some trash that hit me on the corner of 80th and Broadway, in front of Zabar’s, last week. It was extremely upsetting. But it’s clear from a glance how far gone he is. He obviously needs help. I wonder if some of the social services teams who’ve reached out to him in the past could chime in with what they’re able to do, and how he has responded.
also, I don’t see this as a NYC-specific or de Blasio-caused issue. Every place and time has people like this man. They’re disturbed. I wish I knew how best to help them.
Hi UWS-er! I’ve been “UWS-er” around here for a while, and since you seem to have repellent views, could you go with a different name please? Thanks!
I say we send him to San Francisco. Sanctuary City, baby!
The guy is a menace and does not belong on the streets. He is openly hostile to pretty much everyone, and once cursed at my 7-year old niece for no apparent reason. Also as the Post accurately points out he is always relieving himself in the open, which adds a nice spice of life to our otherwise peaceful neighborhood. The guy needs to be locked up and medicated. I hope he goes away.
Really?? The Upper West side is filthy and in the past year or so has become home to many menacing threatening homeless men who scream obscenities at all who pass. Try walking from 76th and Broadway to 70th -just a few blocks. Nasty book sellers-filthy rusty garbage pails wandering can collectors dragging huge bags. It looks worse than Calcutta and it sure doesn’t look like the East Side. I don’t see this on Lexington avenue or 1st 2nd or 3rd avenues. Where is Gale brewer?? Who can help us? I’m a life long new yorker and I can’t defend the city any more. The upper west side is no longer liveable. I feel threatened everytime I walk up to fairway or zabar’s HELPbb
lolz
I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you’ve never actually been to Calcutta.
Good one!
lol and “like” for UWS-er (the REAL UWS-er).
Thanks Bruce. Guess I’m gonna have to change my name.
isn’t there a hip internet word for what the phony UWS-er is doing? sock-puppeting, or astro-turfing, or something?
He awakens
CJ, something tells me you’re gonna get through this, buddy. I have some faith in you. Stop by Just Salad or get a frozen yogurt or whatever you yuppies love to use to quell these feelings of anxiety as you interact with the homeless or black people or with whatever other types of people out there that don’t fit nicely and cozily into your own reality that you have crafted for yourself.
Jenn, your idea of yuppies is about 20 years out of date. You feel ok about attacking people you don’t know, but that’s your own personality issue…
Lol!
Oh hush up and move to the east side then, leave the book sellers alone, they are one of the last great things about this area! As a life long New Yorker you should be used to these things already, unless you’re not and you just say that for street cred when you’re ranting online.
Wow! Really!?
Homeless vagrants selling filthy books they have found in the garbage is one of the best things about this neighborhood? Wow, we have a really different idea about what makes this city great.
And a valid comment about an issue relevant to this article is “ranting” now? Hmmmm….get a grip people. And what is with all the “I’m a real New Yorker and you are not stuff??
Anyway, I think we can all agree that this man should not be running around the UWS for his own sake….and ours too.
The “book seller” in front of Ansonia is hogging 60% of the sidewalk, and the space where people get off the bus. His radio is always on really loud. Half of the time he is pretty much naked. How come his comfort and business means less than the others’?
The guy in front of the Ansonia closest to the bus stop shelter has increased his selling area from 33% to 66% of the width of the sidewalk (count the boxes). I called the precinct last Friday to report the doubling in size. I don’t think they sent anyone, nor have they done anything about it. Let’s see their street peddler licenses.
Oh god not radios and exposed human skin, won’t somebody please think of the children! Come off it, I’ve gotten some amazing first editions for great prices along with the records they sell which are incredible. I can understand a complaint against panhandlers (even though there are better things to complain about) but complaints about radios, books, and the way people dress are when I start to lose my patience for “quality of life” complaints which really amount to censorship and whining. Move to Westchester where you can isolate yourself, the Upper West Side is going to stay the Upper West Side.
so people whose views you dislike should move or hush up? sounds like you’re the one in favor of censorship.
Mark: you are rude, arrogant and a liar. You have no business attacking me or directing me what to do and where to live. From here on, you are on permanent “ignore”.
The last thing I think about is “children” and such. But I saw an ambulance unable being impeded by this man.
Our esteemed Ms. Rosenthal is a waste of oxygen. What are her duties, again? Getting elected somewhere?
Geoffrey: you are rude, arrogant and a liar. You have no business attacking me or directing me what to do and where to live. From here on, you are on permanent “ignore”.
The last thing I think about is “children” and such. But I saw an ambulance unable being impeded by this man.
Our esteemed Ms. Rosenthal is a waste of oxygen. What are her duties, again? Getting elected somewhere?
Poor cops. The stench of this guy reaches a full block radius.
If he has the right to refuse to be medicated, to urinate and worse on the street, to harrass businesses, doesn’t the rest of the population the right to refuse him?
Yes, those poor, poor cops…
Yes, Jenn, poor cops. You know, the guys you call when you need help? Those are the ones.
Hmmm interesting. Still nothing is done about the woman who deficates and stays in it all day and scares all the kids walking by growling at them at 87th. Btw not homeless in an Sro on 87th and gets a gov pension nretired from the post office.
I’ve seen this guy often either talking to himself or sleeping in front of VS. Anybody who has walked the stretch of Broadway from the low hundreds to 72nd has witnessed more panhandlers and homeless people in the last couple of years. A lot of this has to do with the varying types of “transitional housing” which have over saturated the UWS in the last few years. To state that “numbers don’t bear this out” is meaningless because I see it with my own eyes. Just this past Saturday I was approached by 3 people in the span of 15 feet near Trader Joe’s asking for change. Also, the panhandlers are rewarded by misguided Upper West Siders giving them money thinking that they are actually helping. The truth is the UWS has become dirtier (overflowing $1,000 trash cans, dog feces that dog owner’s seem to think is good for cement, and more and more sleeping homeless people).
I just don’t know what’s haooening here. I saw a man at 12 in the afternoon masterbating in the middle of two parked cars on 88th. I had my 2.5 yr old with me so that was fun…
There are the down-on-their luck homeless people who I feel sorry for, and there is this guy. I have felt threatened by him numerous times, and my toddler son has seen him urinating on the street dozens of times – I don’t know how one person can pee so often. Heaven forbid a car or bus hit him while he was wandering down the middle of Broadway, I’m sure it would be their fault. Clearly he has problems and I feel bad that he has deteriorated to this level, but these are the social services my tax dollars are going to pay for. I’m surprised Victoria’s Secret put up with him for so long.
Really? You have been threatened? Really? I have walked past this individual every day (literally) for four years and have never felt at risk or unsafe.
you don’t feel assaulted just by his stench alone?
First of all, yes, he has yelled at me, and, more important, my children, while stepping towards us. Secondly, if you have walked past him “literally” every day for 4 years, I think that maybe he should “literally” take out a restraining order on you, and perhaps buy you a dictionary from one of the vagrant booksellers mentioned above to teach you the meaning of the word “literally.”
Haha, quite an extraordinary response, far from what I anticipated. I simply commented that I have never witnessed a single incident similar to what you described, which resulted in me being labeled uneducated, illiterate and in need of a dictionary! Usually I refrain from participating in the netherworld of internet combat, but it’s just too difficult to resist when I observe privileged people commenting on the “disgusting” people they see on the street. Do I think it’s appropriate that he is urinating on the sidewalk? Of course not. Do I think that the city must work to contribute to a sustainable solution for cases such as this? Yes. Do I think that commenting online on how “disgusting” this man is will lead to a solution? Hmmmmmm.
well you did say you walk by him LITERALLY every day for the past four years. Is that true? I responded because if so, please please reward yourself with a little venturing outside of the 5 boroughs – there’s an amazing world out there!
I too don’t normally choose to engage in internet battles, but you are the one who chose to use the word “really” twice and put “literally” in parentheses while questioning my statement. I am glad that he has not bothered you personally, but it is clear from this thread that there many of us who he has threatened or otherwise made feel significantly uncomfortable. I am in no way belittling him or his situation. I just want the problem solved as it has clearly gone on long enough. It will not only be for our benefit but also hopefully for his.
Eddie,
We had the same experience. I’m a lifelong UWSer and used to the “grittiness” so often described here. And that’s ok. But this man is NOT ok–he’s far from it. He ran towards me and my dog and it was terrifying. It’s a sad situation for all parties involved, but I will be selfish and say that I would like to walk home without feeling this level of fear. We pass homeless and mentally people all day long, and often help them or donate to charity on their behalf. But this person attacks people…it’s VERY different. Long-winded response on my part, but thank you for your original post.
Heaven forbid a car or bus hit him while he was wandering down the middle of Broadway……If that were to happen problem solved
Aw, wishing for his death. You’re a class act.
wait guys, i’m the real UWS-er — you 2 guys are impostors!
now i’m confused. maybe we should ALL sign these posts “UWS-er”.
It’s wrong that he isn’t getting the medical help he desperately/obviously needs. It’s also wrong that he is on the street menacing others (yes, menacing…he is aggressive and sometimes dangerous). Urination is the least of the problems with this guy. At 7:30pm Sunday night I got off the subway & couldn’t believe he was back in his spot…screaming at two women…the same day as he made the front page of the paper! I called our local precinct, who said the hospital released him and there is nothing they can do. If you feel threatened by him or see him acting threateningly toward others, please call 911 or the 20th Precinct (212 580 6412). They are very good to deal with and seem to be putting forth their best effort to help the community work through these issues. Hopefully someday soon, “Monk” aka Mr Tucker can be taken to place where he can be helped.
Hopefully someday soon, “Monk” aka Mr Tucker can be taken to place where he can be helped…Yes, hopefully to a place where he cant be seen or smelled again
What happened in your childhood to make you SO full of hate?
and what happened to you to make you so indifferent to the plight of the women he frequently harasses, verbally assaults and exposes himself to? Is it sad he’s mentally ill? yup, sure is. Does being mentally ill give him the right to make women feel unsafe for years on end? nope. He’s a criminal and needs to be locked up (and, hopefully treated while in prison)
And there the fake UWS-er is again, saying he needs a lobotomy. Again, I wonder what must have happened to him to make him so full of anger and hate. He seems a lot scarier than the homeless man….
Obviously this thing needs treatment and it starts with a frontal lobe lobotomy
I agree he needs help, and if he’s an actual danger to people, he should be locked up and given treatment. My objection is to a commenter (using my name) who’s posted on this thread that this guy should be “made to disappear,” if he’s hit by a bus it means “problem solved,” and he should never be “seen or smelled again.” I have no problem with anything YOU posted. If a guy is wandering around threatening people with bottles, he shouldn’t be left on the street. But this guy IS a human being with obvious mental problems, and wishing for him to be hit by a bus is uncalled for.
How about we just round them all up and hold a Homeless Hunger Games in Central Park? Winner gets a year’s free rent at a new luxury building (poor door of course) and a $2,000 gift card to key foods.
The truth about this guy.
His real name is Angel. He grew up in the UWS and attended IS 44, which is on 77 street between Columbus and Amsterdam. In the 70’s and early 80’s he was a popular kid in the neighborhood and was actually a favorite of the girls. He was quite handsome and good looking. He spoke fluent Spanish/English and was not that bad of a kid. I don’t remember him being a troublemaker and pretty much went about his own business. Sometime in the mid to late 80’s, from what I was told (I was away at College), he tripped on some acid and never fully recovered. I’m sure it was drug related. I was sad to see him, as I remembered him being so popular with the other kids in the hood.
Despite his inappropriate and rude antics, he’s harmless and if you ever catch him on a good day, he can carry on an intelligent conversation (in English or Spanish). Every so often, after receiving a haircut and a shave, I can see that young face of his that use to drive the girls crazy.
I can easily understand why he’s continuously released from the hospital , , , he’s intelligent, harmless, and does not require medical assistance. Unfortunately, mental care has not and is not a priority in our government.
AC, thanks for the truth and the name. Ive seen Angel as far
south as 59th street and north to 96th street. always on
Broadway. I believe he’s been on the street at least 20 years
not the 10 that was mentioned in another comment. His
home base was 80th & B’way where he would change the
plastic bags in the City’s garbage cans and shout out to
people that they were going in the wrong door at Zabar’s.
He never asks for money or food and any attempt offer him
such would be refused. I found that when he refused food
I would leave it on the edge of the garbage can and he would
then go over and take it. The only outbursts that I witnessed
were defensive and the only difficult things to witness were
his relieving himself in the street. It is true that in the last
few years he has deteriorated and it’s almost amazing that
he has survived on the street all these years. If there is a
medical treatment that can restore him to a functioning
person that is the answer of what the community can do
to help a human being from the neighborhood and make
the UWS an easier place to live…someone must know which
social services to call…which city or state agency that can help.
I wish I could make this the only post featured on the comments section. This guy is a person, he’s human.
He has a mental illness. Is it possible that substance use contributed to that illness? Sure. But at the end of the day he is ill. He’s sick. He needs help. And all the people wanting him to disappear or labeling him (and others) as menaces are not good people.
There just arent any good options for people in his situation. In order to forcibly hospitalize him, he has to be an immediate threat to himself or others. And even then, its for 72hrs, and then he gets reevaluated and probably released.
Whats left? Send him to rikers? For the crime of… being mentally ill? What happens then? He does a little time, still doesnt get help, gets released and is back in the same place.
I dont know what the solution is. There isnt one. We cant go back to “one flew over the cuckoo’s nest” days. But the status quo doesnt help these people either. Until things change, please have some humanity. This guy is someone’s son, grandson, brother, ex-boyfriend, friend. He also is mentally ill and not stable.
Brain shock-wave treatment
◦Extended bifrontal craniotomy
◦”Eyebrow” craniotomy (supra-orbital craniotomy)
◦”Keyhole” craniotomy (retro-sigmoid craniotomy)
◦Orbitozygomatic craniotomy
◦Translabyrinthine craniotomy
You’ve had ’em all? Still didn’t do the trick I see.
On you? Agreed.
So interesting. Because every now and then I do notice that his hair and beard are stylishly trimmed and groomed, which seems so out of place with his ‘coat of many rags’. I pass him by nearly every day, and he is normally just talking to himself. On occasion I have seem him scream some unintelligible things to passers-by, but on occasion he actually responds warmy when I say “what’s up” as I pass. Clearly he has his good and bad moments, which is consistent with drug-related brain damage.
I have also witnessed him swing into a rage and verbally accost people. It’s scary. While walking with my daughter I have seen him urinating on the street multiple times. I agree he is mentally ill, as many homeless people are. In the last 15 years, the amount of homeless people on the uws has appeared to increase every year. I am not sure the solution, but letting them live on the streets is not a good one.
Despite the number of claims in this comment section about him being harmless, I don’t deem him screaming at or exposing himself to small children harmless. That is not acceptable in any circumstance, and we should not all be OK with this in our neighborhood.
It is sad that he is not well. It is also not right that he spends his life on the street when he should be getting treatment that could make his life better.
And aside from this particular gentleman, I walked down the east side of Broadway one evening last week between 72nd and 67th and could not believe the number of homeless people I encountered just in that stretch. It seems like each day it gets a little worse.
Deny it all you want, but our neighborhood (and this city) is deteriorating. I personally hope the Post keeps stories like this in the headlines to keep the heat on government officials. This should not be swept under the rug, and we should not all put blinders on and pretend it isn’t happening.
Lisa: so well said and so true. There are some strange writers on this site “UWS-er” who believes this menacing man should just wander around. Others who feel the filthy book sellers and overflowing garbarge pails are just fine. Well, yes I HAVE been to Calcutta and hong kong and on and on. The UWS is dirtier and getting more dangerous.
Just face facts: meNtally ill homeless men half naked and urinating DO NOT BELONG ON THE STREETS. Someone has to clean up the Upper West Side. Case closed.
Actually, the fake UWS-er keeps saying he should be killed, which I assume (or hope) you think is extreme. The other UWS-er, me, never said he should just be wandering around. Where’d you see that? I said if he’s a threat to people he should be locked up and getting treatment.
But to say the UWS is like Calcutta is nutso.
Lisa, you make a valid argument. But we shouldn’t rely on Papers or News accounts , , , People are always complaining about city services (not saying you are), but when it comes down to vote and make a difference, they vote along party lines. So the process never changes and you’re correct, our streets get worse.
Not blaming our current Mayor, Bloomberg, Rudy, or Beam, for those of you who remember him, but we need a candidate who is willing to go against his/her party and do the right thing on health and mental care. Along with more affordable housing for the poor.
ps: when I said harmless, I meant aggressive behavior.
https://nypost.com/2015/07/08/homelessness-and-closed-stores-becoming-the-new-normal-in-nyc/
https://gothamist.com/2015/07/13/homeless_pawns_murdoch_agenda.php
I’ve seen him fairly frequently on Broadway for at least 10 years (he sometimes hangs closer to the FE on 89th)…and I agree, he has looked more rough in recent times, but I’ve never had any trouble from him.
The backstory is fascinating and it seems that he really does need help, but he has the right to refuse it as well. I can only imagine that being approached by a bevy of cops only worsens his demeanor..particularly if he is psychotic…so sad.
Why were at least 8 cops (the number in the photo) needed to interrogate/apprehend one homeless person? That seems to be a waste of resources.
I moved to the UWS in 1973, right out of college. New York was a different place back then. West Side was considered the “artsy” part of town, the east side was the “monied” place to live. And Times Sq. was like taking your life in your hands after dusk. I stay long enough to see major changed, improve my status in life and watch the City improve. Then I moved away for business. But I returned to my home at least twice a year to visit family. The City steadily improved under every mayor for decades. I just moved back to my beloved UWS and am shocked that it appears to be moving backwards in time. The whole City is slowly degenerating again. I love it forever, but first the first time in ages, it’s getting scary to be in a Park after dusk, to walk alone down the street and to stand at your bank’s cash machine too early or too late. I don’t get it. What’s changed? Is it the police? The mayor? A general lack of caring? Is it overtaxed? What?
definitely this clown mayor
I am by no means a fan of this mayor but from what I’ve witnessed through my own eyes living on the UWS for over 20 years the spike in homeless or panhandlers on the UWS is not due to this mayor but more so with Bloomberg and his use of “emergency” housing which allowed him to circumvent rules/laws and gave him carte blanche to “take over” buildings.
have to agree with uws-er, this mayor is the pits and just about everyone I speak to agrees.
The one who just hired 1300 new cops? Explain, oh faux UWS-er….
correct! the one who hired 1300 new cops with shackles on
Whoever wrote the paragraphs below Doesn’t read what they write. For if the man refuses a new pair of socks offered,I am sure, in kindness and with no conditions, how on earth do you propose that “the city” go about helping him.
And while he may not seem like a threat to the writer who must be of sterner stuff than am I, the reality that an apparent lunatic paces the streets where I live makes me uneasy. That he deposits his waste on the streets where I walk revolts and worries me. And that he imposes his carefully constructed grotesque appearance on me and my family angers me.
I am not sure what “right” he is endowed with that permits the way he treats his neighbors.
“I’m sure you’ve seen this guy – he has been homeless not he UWS for at least 10 years. My friend tried to help him once, offering him clean socks and hygiene products, but he wouldn’t take them.
So sad that the NY Post suddenly jumps on this. He’s been around forever. I wish the city could help him, rather than make him seem like a threat – which he never seemed to be.”
I’ve seen Monk almost every day for the past seven and a half years, since we moved back to West 84th Street.
He often craps between cars in front of Five Napkin Burger and cleans himself there. Looks for food in trash cans along Broadway down to Zabars as referenced elsewhere.
But I’ve encountered him both menacing (to me) and helpful (to me: when i broke my foot and was waiting on the M104 at W84, he told me another bus would be along soon).
You certainly don’t know what someone will do at any given moment, but i guarantee that the 21yo who flipped the Mercedes on W71st has done a whole lot more community damage than Monk.
Sadly, Monk fuels tabloid journalism like The Post.
Really? You are suggesting then that the 21 year old intentionally flipped a Mercedes on West 71st Street. Let the 21 year old flip a Mercedes every day for 7 years and you might have a point.
Thanks, “AC”, for pointing-out that back in his prime, this individual was a “popular kid in the neighborhood”, who used to, “drive the girls crazy” with his looks.
( Comment # 18;
https://www.westsiderag.com/2015/07/13/large-police-response-to-homeless-upper-west-sider-who-was-featured-on-ny-post-cover#comment-271868 )
I’m sure that the knowledge that this individual was a real stud back in the day will come as great comfort to all of the people and their children who have been and will be subjected to having bottles brandished at them and being screamed at by this man, witnessing him brazenly exposing his genitals and urinating in front of them and being assaulted by his overpowering, foul stench.
“Harmless”?
In what world could the offenses enumerated above be considered “harmless”?
(Perhaps your standards for acceptable public behavior are more in line with any number of other countries around the world– ones from which, I think it would be safe to guess, that you support continued practically unrestricted immigration from.)
In a subsequent post, “AC”, explains, “when I said harmless, I meant aggressive behavior.”
Let me respond to that.
First, behavior need not result in actual physical harm in order to rightfully be considered aggressive (and menacing).
Screaming and brandishing bottles at people, at least, is most certainly “aggressive behavior”.
Urinating in plain-view in public could also be considered a form of aggressive behavior. Certainly, such an act is a violation of basic decency and hygiene– one that constitutes a severe nuisance and breach of quality-of-life to the public. Same for the degree of neglect of personal hygiene that is in clear evidence here. The overpowering stench that results from such gross neglect of hygiene, besides itself being an unacceptable nuisance, is also evidence of a public health concern; such individuals are obviously teeming and swarming with all kinds of pathogens.
Being subjected to all of these can be traumatizing for passersby, especially children.
It has been argued that due to mental illness, this individual cannot be held responsible for his behaviors and actions. That could very well be. But just who is served by allowing such an individual to continue to live on the street and wallow in his own filth? He not only is clearly a menace (or at the very least, a severe, noxious nuisance) to others but is also obviously doing no favors to himself either. (How safe from violence could he possibly be living on the street? And he is obviously neglecting his own health.)
I was solely bringing up background information , , , the kind of stuff that reporters in the press don’t dive into. I’m a fan of the press, but it’s pretty obvious they’re turning this guy, who has a name, into the “homeless poster boy.” Forget about this guy’s family abandoning him; his friends turning their back on him; or strangers seeking to make him ‘disappear’. This is more than just a homeless issue, this guy needs mental help. It is because of people like this, that people do not like sleeping in homeless shelters.
Funny (and sad) thing about Angel, he was born here in the UWS and has ‘resided’ here probably longer than you. No question, his actions are unacceptable, but he was not like the crazy guy from 96 street (forgot his name), who would actually chase and attack people back in the 90’s. I have never seen Angel attack anyone in all the years that I have known him. I’ve actually seen Angel help people who were seeking directions, needed a cab, etc. Again, not defending his actions (good or bad), just pointing out where he’s from, what happened, and what led to his present situation.
Your post contained several questions and pointed out the obvious mistakes/issues. And yet sadly, you never offered any suggestion or solution to the problem. Thanks for contributing 🙂
I dont agree with the vast majority of what you wrote, but lets take it at face value.
So what would you suggest? Lock him up and treat him like an animal? Where? Rikers? Its already the biggest mental health facility in the world. Lets add homeless people to it. Where’s that money coming from?
We can hospitalize him. Its illegal to do that now, but lets assume you change the laws. Where’s that going to be? Who’s paying for that? Who would agree to accept the thousands of mentally ill homeless in nyc?
I think you need a wakeup call. You live in the biggest city in the country. Its a magnet for all people, including the homeless, down on their luck, mentally ill, substance users. If you choose to live here, it comes with its own unique challenges. So yes, you may occasionally witness someone peeing or pooing in public. You may hear someone yelling (my personal favorite is Mr. Hallelujah on upper broadway). And you may smell someone who doesnt take care of their hygiene.
Its new york. Its san fransisco. Its Los Angeles. Its all major metropolitan cities. Deal.
Or… work to improve the situation.
Gothamist has a very well written article. Please take a read. Yes, its obviously spun against the Post. Rightly so, imo. But the points it makes about homelessness are spot on.
https://gothamist.com/2015/07/13/homeless_pawns_murdoch_agenda.php
I don’t necessarily agree with the Gothamist article as to the reasons behind more homeless (specifically on the UWS). The main reason many homeless/mentally ill/drug addicted, etc… are on the UWS is due to all of the transitional housing that the city (under Bloomberg) expanded in the area. From 94th Street to 100th there are at least a dozen dedicated buildings that have varying degrees of “homeless” living in them. The price of rents have always gone up in NYC so why is it that the UWS as well as certain other areas the ones that are affected? There is a direct correlation and I could argue causation for us all seeing more and more “homeless” on the UWS.
This is great, thanks.
even though it reeks of liberalism
Or reality, fake UWS-er.
This fool of a “mayor” along with his progressive stooges and his boot-licking police comm..are ending at least 18+ yrs of this city being a good place to live returning it to the sh!thole days of pre-Giuliani, just look around at the filth, homeless, broken sidewalks/streets, overflowing garbage cans etc. I didn’t mention crime cause someone on this site (and we know who that is) will start spewing crime stats.
Monk arrived during the Bloomberg years. What does our current mayor have to do with this story?
I know right, to hell with the facts!
I tried to give him a warm blanket last winter and he refused to take it. He said that he has enemies that would try to hurt him to get it from him.
He is obviously very mentally ill and he needs to be helped. There must be a process for getting him involuntarily committed.
Having worked and been on UWS for years. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen his penis. Not to mention outbursts at innocent passerbyers. Really sad.
No matter what youre beliefs, agenda, politics or persuasions….I think one thing we all agree on is: this individual needs to be off the streets ASAP.
I get it, indifference and cold heartedness instead of compassion and how can he be helped, is the norm for those who live in a mental ivory tower. The man needs HELP!!! Not harsh judgement. Who is more inhumane, the helpless homeless sick man or heartless dismissive ideas.
This gentleman, like many nameless before him, will most likely die before our eyes. We will wake up one grey Feb day to hear of his passing, frozen to death. On the streets. A horrible and lonely death. CIVILIZED societies don’t let this happen. He obviously cannot make decisions for himself. Govt at some point must step in to protect these folk from themselves.
I’ve seen this man for the past few months and he has become more ill and erratic. It’s for his own good and the public’s safety. The homeless UWS population is growing stronger than ever for some reason, I’m happy to see the cops finally doing something about it.
Monk once saved me from getting hit by a car by pulling me back to the curb a few years ago. I had the Walk signal and some car made an illegal turn.
I was so saddened to see Monk splayed across the front page of the post and called a “vagrant”, “bum”…. I agree that he needs help and he is reluctant to receive it, but Monk is clearly mentally ill and the city can do a better job helping him. He has been living on the streets here for almost 17 years. Why now? He must have been so scared when the police were approaching him.
It is so sad that so many of you are thinking of your quality of life and not the life of this poor man. He smells bad, be grateful that you have a shower. He sits on the street be grateful that you have a inside place to go to.
What happened to Compassion?