New NY State License Plate Revealed—And Required On All Cars
Access-A-Ride Renders Bike Lane Inaccessible
Cops: Fort Greene Violence Sparked By Chicken Wing Promotion
The UWS Gets Its Very Own Apple Store
64 Things Restaurant Patrons Must NEVER Do
A week ago, Alain Robert scaled the New York Times Building to make a statement about the lack of government action on environmental issues (here's his website). Naturally, a stunt like that got Robert arrested, but a grand jury has dismissed the misdemeanor charges of trespassing, graffiti, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.
According to Robert's lawyer Daniel N. Arshack, who said jurors listened to Robert's explanation of how the climb was safe, two other charges of disorderly conduct remain, but they are not criminal charges but violations (like a parking ticket). It was also pointed out that the NY Times building's owners made no effort to "to prohibit entrance upon the exterior of the building, like a fence or enclosure" so there was no real trespassing. Well, the NY Times building does look like a huge ladder...
Robert said, "I have been charged with only disorderly conduct, but inaction on global warming by world leaders is true criminal behavior. Next month the G8 must act! World leaders need to enact an international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at LEAST 50%." And the other man who climbed the building, Renaldo Clarke, is scheduled to be in court later this summer.
Photograph of Alain Robert, with NY Times building it the background, by Bebeto Matthews/AP
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
On one hand we have highest pot arrests and all the photographer harassments. On the other hand, while on a very romantic mission, this guy seriously endangers public safety and gets away with it.
I can't help but wonder how much money we are spending on these pranks? (Courts, firefighters, police, etc.)
'seriously endangers public safety'
what a crock of b.s.
They didn't bill! A french guy! There really is a thaw happening. See, France, global warming ain't so bad after all!
If I draw the finite city resources that guard public safety to my d-bag publicity stunt I would be endangering public safety. Picture a firetruck parked in front of the Times building during the climb(s), while in Queens at a 4 alarm fire a child cokes down their last smoke filled breath. The malignant narcissism infecting our culture is sickening. This is not about the environment, it is about his bloated sense of self.
We just had a story about ambulance arriving 1 hour late to manhattan from another island.
#4 nails it.
Imagine if this guy fell? Is French embassy prepared to cover the event and damages to the private property?
Here's George Willig climbing the WTC, May 26, 1977
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SUgIJ9LaL8g
www.forgotten-ny.com
#5, While the government of France would pay for some of the cleanup of the man's remains, and its transport back to France, they generally don't indemnify their citizens who cause willful or involuntary damage or death as a result of their violation of the laws and ordinances of their host country. That said, if Alain somersaulted 52 stories into a woman walking her tandem stroller down the street mashing them all through a grate into an electrical tunnel below, putting out power to the entire West Side of Manhattan, a "gesture" could be negotiated.
That Grand Jury ruling is a joke. Their result would've been a lot different if he'd climbed the building with a bomb rather than a banner. Just because his protest was 'peaceful' (in the very loosest sense of the word) and that the Times Building has sort've invited this sort of stunt by it's design, doesn't mean what he did was legal or morally reprehensible. He should've been charged if, not for anything else, for being a public nuisance, causing a security alert and causing traffic delays.
And frankly, it's still tresspassing if you ask me. He clambered onto that building uninvited and without the Times' permission. Surely that counts for something.
His demand that the G8 cut "greenhouse gas emmissions by AT LEAST 50%" quantifies him as a nieve enviromental lunitic in my book...
His lack of remorse is why I think he should not have been let off the charges.
If this guy was protesting city taxes, none of you motherfuckers would be calling him a dickbag and being dismissive.
Funny how that works.
#7, no one should bring a tandem stroller into Times Square. Catapulting Frenchmen are the least of the hazards.
#10, I totally agree. And I don't think he was a nuisance; bold gestures and spectacle like this is what New York is about! That guy who walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers is legen..DARY, they've even made a documentary.
Anyone see that guys teeth? Ewww!