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Here's why NYC sidewalks are (still) covered with 400 miles of scaffolding
By
David Brand
Published Aug 29, 2024
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Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images
By
David Brand
Published Aug 29, 2024
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City workers have finally dismantled a 329-foot-long plywood passageway that had encased a Kips Bay sidewalk through three mayoral administrations — putting the tiniest dent in New York City's vast and much-maligned network of “sidewalk sheds.”
The familiar green structure was erected outside the city chief medical examiner’s office at 520 First Ave. in 2009, when Michael Bloomberg was just starting his third term.
Local leaders marked the long-awaited demolition on Wednesday with a celebratory press conference.
“This administration is serious when it comes to improving our public spaces, and for both public and privately owned buildings, keeping sidewalk sheds up forever is no longer an option,” said Department of Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo.
But in the annals of scandalous scaffolding, 15 years is relatively modest.
One sidewalk shed in the West Village that predated the iPod, Wikipedia and Y2K finally came down in 2022, after more than two decades and a ton of community organizing. Another on Edgecombe Avenue in northern Manhattan’s Sugar Hill neighborhood lasted 21 years, before the city took the landlord to court and got the wood-and-metal apparatus taken down.
The five boroughs now feature about 2.1 million feet of sidewalk sheds, according to buildings department records. That’s around 395 miles, or enough wood and metal to build a covered bridge from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to Williamsburg, Virginia — and nearly halfway back.
So, why exactly does New York City have so much scaffolding?
Here’s what you need to know about how our sidewalks became shrouded in plywood, and why it’s almost always that same shade of green.
It’s supposed to be about safety
New York City has stringent requirements for all new buildings and any structure over six stories.
Those buildings must undergo an inspection by a qualified engineer every five years. If the inspector deems them unsafe or “safe with a repair and maintenance program” — also known by the clunky acronym SWARMP — the property owner must call in scaffolders to erect a sidewalk shed or netting to catch any falling chunks of brick.
The city’s Local Law 11 spells out the current rules. The first set of inspection requirements came after a Barnard College student was killed by a hunk of façade in Morningside Heights in 1979.
Installation isn’t cheap. Owners typically pay up to $150 per foot to erect sidewalk sheds, and then owe scaffolding companies monthly fees, according to the firm Rand Engineering and Architecture.
Architect Jorge Fontan, who handles inspections and façade work, said he understands why the sheds annoy people, but noted that they exist to protect pedestrians.
“The shed is not a disease. The shed is a symptom,” he said.
The real culprits, said Fontan, are building owners and managers who erect scaffolds and leave them without fixing the dangerous façade problems.
“The scaffolding is innocent of all charges,” he said. “The buildings are not being taken seriously by the management companies.”
What happens if a property owner just leaves the shed up?
Not much, as long as they are maintaining the structure and renewing permits with the buildings department.
A lot of the work takes time to complete, especially when it’s cold out or the job is complicated and costly, according to Fontan.
“Construction drags on, construction starts and stops, you run out of money in the middle of construction,” he said.
At other times, the landlord is slow to act, or the contractors dilly-dally. Fontan said one landlord on the Upper East Side hired him earlier this year after a previous contractor failed to finish façade repairs for nearly seven years. He said the project is now about halfway done and locals are happy.
“The neighbors said, ‘Are you guys going back to work? Thank God. Are you going to get that scaffolding down?’’” the architect recounted.
So, what is the city doing about it?
Good question.
Mayor Eric Adams has talked a lot about his “Get Sheds Down” initiative over the past year. He issued a number of proposals to ramp up enforcement.
Ryan Degan, a spokesperson for the buildings department, said the agency is threatening more owners with violations and lawsuits to remove long-standing sheds that have been up for at least five years. He said the enforcement has motivated owners to remove 261 sheds in the past year.
“They are keeping New Yorkers safe, for the amount of time necessary to complete the underlying work,” Degan said. “However, these same pieces of pedestrian protection equipment can become a major quality-of-life issue in our city when they are allowed to stand year after year, when no underlying construction work is ongoing.”
The “Get Sheds Down” plan includes measures to penalize property owners whose sheds block pedestrian access and to crack down on landlords who fail to complete repair work on time in business districts.
Adams also commissioned a review of Local Law 11 rules to see if they are too onerous for building owners and propose possible changes.
The city is also targeting sheds on public municipal buildings, such as the medical examiner’s office in Kips Bay, by completing the repair work and getting clearance to remove the scaffolding.
Buildings department data shows there are around 9,000 permitted sheds in the five boroughs, down from about 11,370 in 2020. Nearly 300 have been up for at least five years, records show.
What can everyday New Yorkers do to get sheds down?
Call 311 and complain. A building inspector will visit the site and assess the structure. The inspector may penalize the owner if permits are expired or if conditions are deteriorating, possibly motivating them to finish the job and remove the scaffolding.
Community groups can also put pressure on a building’s owner, or the city to hold the owner accountable. That ultimately worked for residents of the West Village, who urged their landlord to take down a 22-year-old shed.
These shadowy sheds can’t be good for business
That’s right, according to a city study released earlier this month.
The analysis used Mastercard data and found that cardholders spent up to $9,500 less per month at Manhattan stores surrounded by scaffolding than at venues that weren't.
Restaurants and bars reported up to 9.7% weekly earnings drops, the study found.
“When you think about the razor-thin margin of running a restaurant or business … it’s a major impact,” Adams said at an event earlier this month.
Why is the wood always green?
That’s the law.
Department of Buildings rules specifically state that all sidewalk sheds built after July 1, 2013, must be painted hunter green. Any other hues are expressly prohibited, except when it comes to more modern “Urban Umbrellas.” The Urban Umbrella company won a 2009 city-sponsored design competition to introduce a new style of sidewalk shed.
Aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, but Urban Umbrella offers more elegant structures made up of thin, white arches propping up mesh metal ceilings.
How can I learn how long the shed near my apartment has been up?
Check out this handy interactive map from the buildings department, which includes details on around 9,000 active sidewalk shed permits.
Where can I learn more?
The Department of Buildings posts technical information and answers to frequently asked questions on its website.
There’s also a great episode of HBO’s "How To With John Wilson" about New York City sidewalk sheds.
Tagged
scaffolding
housing
public safety
construction
economy
environment
Politics
eric adams
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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