The additions — which appeared about three months ago along Brazos Street near Sixth Street — drew online speculation and backlash, with many people suggesting they were designed to deter people experiencing homelessness from sitting or lying on the benches.
But the central question that fueled the controversy remains unresolved: who installed them.
In January, city spokesperson Yasmeen Hassan told the American-Statesman the city was not responsible for the installations and that no permit had been issued for the work. She said the department of Transportation and Public Works had opened an investigation to determine who had placed them.
A month later, another spokesperson said the city still had not identified who installed the structures and had notified adjacent property owners to remove them. If they did not, she said, the city would step in — which it ultimately did.
Businesses in the area have also been left without answers.
Marcus Razo Herrera, who leads the front desk at Gold’s Gym at Brazos and Sixth, said people who appeared to be construction workers dropped by to tell staff they would be installing metal rails, but did not identify themselves or the company they worked for.
Samantha Kammeron, general manager at Eureka! restaurant, said a construction crew similarly told her they had a work order to install the rails. She notified building security and the landlord, but neither knew who authorized the work.
Kammeron said representatives from the city’s transportation department later visited the restaurant asking about the installations.
When news of the installation first appeared on Reddit, users flooded the online forum with hundreds of comments and “upvotes.” Many called out the structures as “hostile architecture,” a term used to describe urban design intended to discourage behaviors like sleeping or loitering, particularly by people experiencing homelessness.