Neighbors Blast Vessel's Reopening At Hudson Yards After Suicides

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Hudson Yards' plan to reopen its climbable Vessel sculpture for Memorial Day weekend was met with ridicule by a Midtown community board, as neighbors mocked the new suicide-prevention policies that they said would fail to prevent more tragedies.

Patch broke the news in January that the 150-foot-tall metal structure would be closed indefinitely after a man leaped to his death from one of its staircases — the third suicide there in less than a year.

Described variously by board members as "lipstick on a pig," "totally unsatisfactory" and "a whole bunch of bulls--t," the reopening plan by owner Related Companies calls for welcoming visitors back to the Vessel this weekend — but only in groups of at least two people.

Visitors will also need to buy tickets online in advance, the security staff will be tripled and trained to engage visitors differently, and Related will partner with Lady Gaga's Born This Way foundation on its "Please Stay" initiative, a suicide prevention program.

None of those policies satisfied the demands of Community Board 4, which has twice called on Related to raise the chest-high barriers that line the Vessel's 154 flights of stairs.

"This is just Related being Related and doing nothing to address the core problem, which is a major public safety hazard," board member Jeffrey LeFrancois said.

"They're taking a risk here"

Even before the honeycomb-like Vessel opened in 2019, concerns were raised about safety risks. In 2016, Audrey Wachs wrote in the Architect's Newspaper that "when you build high, folks will jump," suggesting that the Vessel's designers "seem not to have learned" from suicides at other iconic buildings.

Board chair Lowell Kern said a Related executive told him the company had looked at the possibility of raising barriers, but found it would create "all sorts of technical problems that they were not prepared to address."

Kern told Patch on Wednesday that he had followed up with Related after the board's discussion, but that the company intends to move forward with reopening.

"They’re taking a risk here," he said. "Because if what they’re doing isn’t enough, it will mean that a fourth person has lost their life."

In a statement, a Hudson Yards spokesperson said the Vessel is "made extraordinary by the millions of people who visit and experience it with others," adding that the new measures also include National Suicide Prevention Lifeline signage at the Vessel's entrance.

Also new will be a $10 cost for tickets, which were formerly free. (Tickets remain free during the first hour of every day, and for children under 5.) Reservations for the coming weekend were set to go on sale at 12 p.m. Wednesday on Hudson Yards' website.

Each ticket will bear a message referencing the Born This Way Foundation, and including the phrase: "Each of you matter to us, and to so many others."

Previous coverage: Midtown Neighbors Had Warned Hudson Yards Of Suicides At Vessel

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, there are resources to help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255. Its website offers services including a live chat.