Calls for raised barrier at NYC Vessel sculpture

(26 Aug 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4341271

A community board in New York City is calling on the operators of the Hudson Yards development to install barriers at the Vessel sculpture or close its walkways to the public permanently.
The public art installation remains closed weeks after a 14-year-old boy killed himself while visiting the structure with his family by jumping from the eighth level.
That is the fourth suicide at the Vessel since it opened two and a half years ago. The sculpture is very popular with visitors. On any given afternoon, a steady stream of people takes photos with the art installation.
Lowell Kern, chair of Manhattan Community Board 4, which represents residents of the area, is calling on real estate developer Related Companies to raise the height of the waist-high railings on the sides of the stairs and platforms as a means of suicide prevention.
Kern and the community board had initially raised the issue with Related in a letter sent after the first death, a young man who killed himself in February 2020, but got no official response, he said.
After the second and third deaths of a 24-year-old woman in December 2020 and a 21-year-old man in January 2021, Related Companies first closed the structure to evaluate options.
It remained closed until the end of May. When it reopened, Related had put new rules in place, including increasing security and signage and not allowing people to go up solo but left the railings at the same height. The boy who died recently, though, had been with others to do the climb.
After the last death, Related has said only that the sculpture is closed while it continues to evaluate.
High-profile locations all around the country and world have dealt with the issue of suicides, with some places installing nets or barriers, as the George Washington Bridge did a few years ago.

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