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After this week's bizarre and somewhat alarming Roosevelt Island tram stoppage, people have been alternately thanking their lucky stars they weren't on the thing and wondering if they'd be stuck somewhere. So the NY Times decided to find out some answers about some possible situations:
In a spirit of public paranoia, The New York Times came up with five other places you would not want to get stuck and presented them to the Fire and Police Departments to see how they would respond. All the situations were unique to New York, and none were related to terrorism.Ha! They are: Water Tunnel No. 3; The Wonder Wheel at Coney Island; Skyfari Tram at the Bronx Zoo while over lions; a commuter helicopter crash in the East River; and on faulty scaffolding on the Empire State Building. Apparently the FDNY asked the Wonder Wheel operators if they could do practice drills there, but the Wonder Wheel people said no. Gothamist would like to add a few other places we wouldn't want to be stuck: Any subway under the East River - that's a long walk; caught in the middle of North River Wastewater Treatment Plant - stinky!; and in the middle of Times Square on a nice Saturday - why do these tourists walk so slow!
Where wouldn't you want to be stuck? How do you think the NYPD and FDNY would respond?
Photograph by Tien Mao
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The subway! I've always been curious how long they'll leave you in there before evacuating, assuming the power's still on and everything. The longest I've ever been stuck is an hour, right under the East River. This one lady even went in the corner of the car, getting ready to pee in a plastic shopping bag while her friend held the newspaper up for her as a makeshift "stall" -- right before they finally made us all go out the front car.
In an elevator with Donald Trump, Bonnie Fuller, and Michael Musto.
macy's on a saturday, already a hellhole with the doors open, can you imagine if you couldn't get out?
hands down: looking for a cab on the lower east side on a saturday night at 2am in the pouring rain
The Wonder Wheel operators told the FDNY they couldn't conduct emergency drills? God I love Coney Island! The Wonder Wheel actually seems like a great place to be trapped for many hours. The worst place to be trapped would be the Herald Square DMV, except that wouldn't be "trapped," that would just be "going there."
On second thought, being trapped in a glass coffin/block of ice/suspended box/on a pole with David Blaine for many hours would probably be the worst thing I can think of.
On the upper floors of a skyscraper on fire with no hope of being recued.
Puts things in perspective. Doesn't it?
"On the upper floors of a skyscraper on fire with no hope of being recued.
Puts things in perspective. Doesn't it?"
Oh you are soo dark. I am so impressed by your unhappiness. It does not put things in perspective. It just makes you look like a pretentious obnoxious loser.
Gary you seem so unhappy lashing out like that. So much easier to say you disagree. But I can understand how the anonimity of the web gives unrealistic courage and loosens the inhibitions holding back rudeness. If that makes you feel good, Hey keep it up!
It's amazing how paranoid Americans are nowadays.
Any one of us runs more of a risk choking on food or getting hit by a car/bus or even a bike than we will getting 'stuck' somewhere.
Heck more people will be "stuck" in line at Shake Shack or the Burger Joint at the Parker Meridian than they will anywhere else.
Jack, I agree. This is what's called risk management. We will tolerate risk of a really extraordinary nature (driving at 90 mph on the highway) as long as we think we are in control. Get someone else in charge (pilots) and a lot of people become unreasonably nervous -- relative to the risk.
Weren't people trapped in all those places during the blackout?
If you're trapped on the Wonderwheel w/someone worthy you'd have a great opportunity for thrilling mid air sex that you never really have time for - as they just leave you hanging out up there for a few moments during a normal ride.
I've walked through the North River plant a few times (under the park) and it just smells kind of like mildew. There is however a big pile of what the plant workers call "grit" which includes all the undigested corn that winds up in the sewers on the west side of Manhattan. If you go there you can see the corn that people didn't chew and which passed through them in one piece and went down the drain. That pile of corn is where I wouldn't want to get stuck.