The New York Times Building - Climbers

Climbers

In the summer of 2008, three men illegally climbed the external facade of The New York Times Building within a month of each other, with the first two on the same day. The three climbers were not associated with one another.

On June 5, 2008, a professional climber, Alain Robert, dubbed "The French Spiderman," climbed the north side of The New York Times Building. He was able to scale the building from first floor all the way to the roof. During his climb, Robert attached a fluorescent green neon sign to the building that read "Global warming kills more people than a 9/11 every week". Robert also wore a t-shirt promoting the website "The Solution is Simple". Robert was met on the roof by the NYPD emergency service unit team where he was put in a harness to ensure he did not fall and placed under arrest. Later that day, a second climber scaled the western face of the building. He also was arrested for climbing the building facade after reaching the roof. The climber, 32-year-old Brooklyn resident Renaldo Clarke, was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Malaria No More" written on it.

The third climber was David Malone, 29, from Connecticut, who also scaled the west side of the building on July 9, 2008. Unlike the two previous climbers, Malone did not attempt to make it to the roof. He hung a banner around the fifth floor upon the first "T" of The New York Times sign, that had a picture of Osama Bin Laden holding Bush like a puppet—"Bin Laden's Plan" (the title of his book and Web site). He then climbed higher, stopping at the 11th floor, and remained hanging on the building for four hours before being arrested. Malone said he was protesting Al Qaeda's "crusader baiting", and "intentional provocation of the U.S." On Saturday March 24 2012 a homeless man was caught climbing the building. He made it to the 5th floor before getting stuck, and was eventually arrested.