A homeless woman tried to torch a luxury SUV outside a high end lighting business in Manhattan — one of several terrifying encounters workers say they endured after a resurgence of a West Side encampment.
Bentley Meeker, owner of Bentley Meeker Lighting and Staging on West 45th Street said the latest makeshift camp to plague the area outside his new office steadily grew since the company moved in July —- and conditions turned alarming this month.
“Come September, it started to change into some sort of an aggressive thing,” he said.
Meeker said a woman from the encampment tried to torch his around $250,000 Mercedes Benz G63 Thursday by wrapping a T-shirt around its mirror and attempting to light it with a lighter.
Employees spotted the attempt and stopped it, he said.
Meeker reported the incident and Department of Sanitation crews cleared makeshift shelters directly outside the business Thursday with help from the NYPD, according to Meeker and police.
The camp’s inhabitants on Friday were already spotted setting up a few blocks away at West 52nd Street and Eleventh Avenue.
Despite the quick cleaning, Meeker is still worried they will return to his block, as the encampments have been coming and going in the West Side area near the Intrepid Museum for months.
“Today it seems to be quiet. That happens occasionally but historically they come back,” Meeker said.
Outreach workers must spend seven days offering shelter and services before an encampment can be cleared under City Hall’s policy.
The policy has led to a frustrating game of whack-a-mole on the West Side, where encampments removed in July quickly reappeared nearby.
“This neighborhood continues to be a critical area of focus for the Department of Homeless Services,” a City Hall spokesperson said. “This administration is focused on connecting New Yorkers to shelter and establishing a pipeline to stable housing.”
Meeker said employees are still afraid to come to work after one was chased with a metal rod, Meeker said.
“What happened is, not only have they not solved the problem, but the problem is getting dangerous now,” Meeker said.
He also said another employee nearly drove over a man sleeping beneath a company truck after someone tied a tarp to the vehicle to create a makeshift home.
Luckily the worker noticed the tarp before pulling away, Meeker said.
“The fact that he stopped and got out to look what was going on prevented him from running over the guy sleeping underneath the truck,” Meeker said.
The company employs about 100 full time workers, including designers, artists and theater professionals.
“I want my employees to have a safe place to work,” he said. “It’s one thing for me to be able to provide my employees with a safe space, but the city of New York should be able to provide them with a safe street.”
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