ACLU says NJT station seating policy unconstitutional

Trains Magazine Transit
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The TRAINSNEWSWire of this date carries the above headline on one of its articles.

[banghead] It seems that we are living in times that are turning common sense, topsy-turvey?

FTA:"…NEWARK, N.J. — The New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says NJ Transit’s new practice of requiring people to have a ticket to sit inside the main waiting area at Newark’s Penn Station is unconstitutional…The commuter agency recently set up a staffed checkpoint inside the station where passengers must show a valid train ticket prior to sitting on one of the nearby benches, NJ.com reports. But some say the railroad is limiting access to a public space and that it is a thinly veiled effort to reduce the number of homeless people in the station…
“It is a station that invites in the public and the manner that they cut off seating to the public is inappropriate,” says New Jersey ACLU Legal Director Ed Barocas.
But NJ Transit disagrees and says that it is simply enforcing a policy that has been on the books since 2015. Agency Executive Director Stephen Santoro says that the agency asks that only people with a ticket valid within two hours are allowed to sit in the station…"

Seems that this is a ‘situation’ that has existesed for years, in our society(?) Go to a transportation HUB, and after buying a ticket for transport, one can go to a public waiting room and wait for their’ride’.

Nowadays, we seem to have to maintain Public Spaces not only for the patrons of a ‘service’ but also for public Loitering(?).

Then one sees the following type of article:

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“No Rest For the Wicked” or anyone else for that matter. Seems that in Megalopolises like Chicago and New York that the very act of resting is a criminal act. Just hanging outside of Chicago Union Station by the river I was harrased by security. New York for years has made its benches with brakets so that no one will lay down on them. Philly has Amtrak Police with AK-47s to wake sleeping passengers on there benches. I used to look forward to going to the big city but after a 12 hour or more train ride to take a short nap means contantly being nudged awake by the anti-sleeping police is exuasting.

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As a railfan, I do appreciate having public space to loiter in, particularly the platforms. But I understand that the purpose of these spaces is for transportation, not living. An airport is technically a public space, but try getting into one without having a good reason to be there.

Seems that the time, money and effort here would be better spent actually helping the homeless people rather than lawyers…

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Standard Railroad bench of the World

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The main waiting room at Chicago Union Station has similar benches, not surprising when you consider that PRR had a 50% interest in Chicago Union Station Co.