The homeless have it hard lately, what with all the anti-homeless measures municipalities have implemented to keep them off benches and sculptures and sidewalks. Except in Vancouver, where one charity is building "pop-up" shelters that invite the weary in.

New York City offers a great many things, but places to sit and places to relieve oneself (which might also encompass a place to sit) are not among them. One of those deficits is about to be remedied, however, as the ambitious new CityBench program seeks to install 1,000 new benches on city streets, with an emphasis on placing them near "bus stops, retail corridors, and in areas with high concentrations of senior citizens."