And that's just fine with downtown businesses and city institutions that long have worried about street people. They are increasingly unwelcome in public buildings. They are monitored in the Central Library by police, and throughout downtown by a new squad of private security patrols. They've been rousted from steam grates and cleared out from beneath overpasses. They've been moved along from public parks after downing charity lunches, and cited for loitering at night in MacArthur Square when shelters were full.
Downtown is a neighborhood.
These incidents would not be tolerated in a residential area anywhere else. No lying on benches at MacArthur Square. No warming up inside the library lobby. The police look at their past history and their appearance. Gardenier believes quality of life policing has spawned more harassment.