NEW YORK — Calls grew Thursday for New York City to remove scaffolding covering sidewalks throughout the five boroughs.
Part of the proposal is for tenants who live in buildings with scaffolding to be entitled to demand a discount on the rental rate that would have to come from the building owners. This is because it is considered that they are using these sheds as an excuse to delay or not carry out repairs on the facades.
Every New Yorker has seen it, or worse, has had to deal with living near it: scaffolding outside buildings that have been on the sidewalks seemingly forever. It’s been an ongoing problem for decades, but now lawmakers are trying again to tear down the sidewalk sheds.
The Bloomberg administration predicted a boom in sidewalk sheds to comply with local Law 11, which is a safety measure designed to protect pedestrians. The problem is that that law created an unwanted side effect: Many homeowners kept the sheds on the sidewalks. It is a cheaper option than expensive facade repairs.
By one estimate, there are more than 4,000 in Manhattan alone. It’s not just landlords and businesses that have abused the system: sometimes the city was the owner.
“All the sheds on the city projects will be down. Literally every last one,” then-mayor Bill de Blasio said in 2017.
That did not come to fruition. But now a new generation of leaders is trying again.
“Sheds don’t run this city that we run,” said City Councilman Shaun Abrey, who represents Manhattan.
Council members met Monday with Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who said his new plan has the right recipe.
“We want to get the facade work done faster, because that’s usually what leaves these scaffolding up,” Levine said. “It’s a plague in our neighborhoods.”
Levine also said that new drone technology could speed up building inspections, which would mean faster permits and work. Since 2019, the city has regularly inspected all scaffolding projects that have been in operation for at least five years.
Here’s a breakdown of Levine’s plan to get rid of the sheds, which depends on:
- Low-interest loan fund for homeowners to make repairs.
- Simplified permits to do the construction.
- Higher fines for those who neglect work.
Given past promises that haven’t been kept, it’s natural to ask: Why should it work this time?
“We’re making proposals that haven’t been said before,” Levine said.
The Adams administration says they’ve already made a dent: Sidewalk sheds are down 21 percent, totaling just over 9,000 now compared to 11,300 three years ago, according to the City Council.
An East Harlem sidewalk shed that had been in place since 2003 was torn down last year, as were those that were installed in 2008 and 2009. There were at least a dozen sheds torn down in the last 2 years or more that had been in operation for more than seven years. .
While that may not be noticeable, the city says they have added enforcement. Longer-lasting sidewalk sheds will receive additional inspections to make sure someone has a plan to fix it and fix the view.
“As Mayor Adams said in his State of the City address in January, this administration is precisely focused on reclaiming valuable public spaces for New Yorkers, strengthening oversight of long-standing sidewalk sheds, and improving security requirements. design of the sheds to keep our city’s streetscapes vibrant. We appreciate the Borough President’s recommendations and look forward to reviewing his specific proposals,” read a statement from the Department of Buildings.
Part of the decline in sidewalk scaffolding may be due to new oversight initiatives started in 2019, which were aimed at increasing facade safety and cracking down on longstanding sheds.
For those wondering, the oldest curbside shed currently standing in the city is located at 409 Edgecomb Avenuenearly 155th Street in Harlem, which was once the home of Thurgood Marshall y WEB DuBois. The building has had scaffolding in front to him since April 2006, according to a 2019 NY Post report.
A source told NBC New York that the building’s owners recently pleaded guilty in a criminal case, which was brought by the city’s DOB. As part of the plea, they agreed to finish repairs on the building in 2023, so the shed could be removed.
