> I'm not sure what your point about "gender wars" is. Is this pole too effeminate for a man to be shaded by?
They were referring to this:
>Its purpose was to assist female bus riders by offering shade during the hottest hours of the day and providing sidewalk lighting at night.
Right - a study found that the majority of bus riders were women, but previous designers were mostly men. So they surveyed them, found out that one of their top priorities was shade, and designed a relatively inexpensive way to provide it.
They were referring to this: >Its purpose was to assist female bus riders by offering shade during the hottest hours of the day and providing sidewalk lighting at night.