Pay & Sit is yet another device to drive the poor from shared public spaces and let them instead be monopolised by apple-munching, mineral-water-sipping yuppies. Pay & Sit is a park bench dreamed up by a member of Walsall council. When at rest, it becomes the porcupine of the street-furniture world, deploying vicious metal spikes to keep soft rear-ends away. Only when a 20p coin is dropped in the slot do the spikes lower mechanically and offer up a smooth, comfortable surface. Even the office-goers aren’t welcome to linger or dilly-dally in their relaxing: After a short interval, an alarm sounds, closely followed by the spikes popping back out. The message is clear: if you live in walsall ...You sit, you pay.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:20:47 +0000