I am twenty-two years old. The scaffolding abutting the Central Presbyterian Church at Park and East 64th Street has been there my entire life. The address is 593 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065 and if anyone has any advice on how to get it taken down you would be helping a neighborhood that has failed for decades to resolve the issue.
1
This is a mild case. On the southwest corner of 57th and 9th Ave, the scaffolding has been up since 1983....34 YEARS. Unreal. The Times did a piece on it a few years ago.
4
Truly a blight. They never go away, just move around. I walk in the street before I'll get trapped in one. These structures should be highly regulated and much minimized. Hideous!!
1
A politically connected Reverend hijacked a 50-year-old Harlem nonprofit and stuffed his pockets with organization funds meant to house and educate the poor, a lawsuit charged.
Four government agencies, including the IRS and the New York Attorney General’s Office, have demanded the group’s books and records, which have allegedly been held hostage by the Reverend and his cronies, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
The Reverend, a former aide to Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki, joined the West Harlem Community Organization board in 2011.
The Reverend quickly gained control of the nonprofit’s seven apartment buildings, which were deeded to the group by the city in the 1990s for affordable housing, according to a lawsuit, which
was filed by the organization.
You have to wonder why this article did little to note the organization and "out" the party/parties at fault for having the scaffolding in place as the building repair has languished!
Four government agencies, including the IRS and the New York Attorney General’s Office, have demanded the group’s books and records, which have allegedly been held hostage by the Reverend and his cronies, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
The Reverend, a former aide to Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki, joined the West Harlem Community Organization board in 2011.
The Reverend quickly gained control of the nonprofit’s seven apartment buildings, which were deeded to the group by the city in the 1990s for affordable housing, according to a lawsuit, which
was filed by the organization.
You have to wonder why this article did little to note the organization and "out" the party/parties at fault for having the scaffolding in place as the building repair has languished!
17
Another reason I love Paris - no scaffolding. A city where they're not building luxury housing on every sliver of available space. Paris- Lovely streets with windows full of flower boxes. Amazing architecture. Large, green open spaces. And it's 2000 years old!
And it's 2000 years old!
And it's 2000 years old!
8
St. Anne's Church in Brooklyn Heights, at the corner of Montague and Clinton Streets, has a sidewalk shed which touts funding by NY State. The sign lists George Pataki as Governor. The shed has been up at least as long as the one in Harlem.
6
The Buildings Dept. map does NOT show that as a "very old" shed. OK, the question of "when was a shed at a particularly address erected?" IS a lot harder to answer than "Of all shed permits we've issued that haven't been 'closed out,' which ones go back furthest in time?"
Guess which approach our joke of a Buildings Dept. opted for?! And you don't have to be too cynical to think that it wasn't JUST because the right way was harder - who among us likes to make "top brass" look bad?!
I'd be willing to bet that no small number of them are owned by the same people who deal with restaurant garbage ... and restaurant linens, i.e., people very happy to launder money in a really easy, high volume way.
Neither they nor the City - more's the pity - really cares about the downside of erecting these structures and leaving them up for decades. Talk about a cure being worse than the disease.....
Guess which approach our joke of a Buildings Dept. opted for?! And you don't have to be too cynical to think that it wasn't JUST because the right way was harder - who among us likes to make "top brass" look bad?!
I'd be willing to bet that no small number of them are owned by the same people who deal with restaurant garbage ... and restaurant linens, i.e., people very happy to launder money in a really easy, high volume way.
Neither they nor the City - more's the pity - really cares about the downside of erecting these structures and leaving them up for decades. Talk about a cure being worse than the disease.....
2
Manhattan is all scaffolding, all over. You can't walk one complete block without dodging construction and scaffolding.
The law the requires the brick appointments every five years is a joke.
It takes almost a year for the job to be done, and bricks are replaced that don't need it because the company needs to justify the cost.
The whole thing is a sham.
The law the requires the brick appointments every five years is a joke.
It takes almost a year for the job to be done, and bricks are replaced that don't need it because the company needs to justify the cost.
The whole thing is a sham.
8
Nice app/website, BUT ... it shows the talent gap in the 2 or 3 (more ?) City Agencies that have anything to do with building.
Have an address and want to check its scaffolding? - you can't.
Use the map - say 111 Hicks St. in Brooklyn - and you're told that the date the scaffolding went up is "41923." Mayor Mike was far from perfect, but when we was Mayor, that simply would not have happened.
The website looks like someone's HS project, it's that bad - THIS at a time where crowd-sourcing is what "cursive" was 100 years ago - something one had to know and to use
Enough snark - it really SHOULD be possible to install non-hacks in key positions at agencies like the Dept. of Buildings. ... Or is this one of countless deals Mayor Bill cut with campaign contributors - a system that cost millions and doesn't work and will degrade further (staying current) over time.
When things are this bad - and it's a tiny example of the thousands of things our current Mayor has bungled - we really need a better Mayor.
Have an address and want to check its scaffolding? - you can't.
Use the map - say 111 Hicks St. in Brooklyn - and you're told that the date the scaffolding went up is "41923." Mayor Mike was far from perfect, but when we was Mayor, that simply would not have happened.
The website looks like someone's HS project, it's that bad - THIS at a time where crowd-sourcing is what "cursive" was 100 years ago - something one had to know and to use
Enough snark - it really SHOULD be possible to install non-hacks in key positions at agencies like the Dept. of Buildings. ... Or is this one of countless deals Mayor Bill cut with campaign contributors - a system that cost millions and doesn't work and will degrade further (staying current) over time.
When things are this bad - and it's a tiny example of the thousands of things our current Mayor has bungled - we really need a better Mayor.
5
For those who dream of a regulation free world...this is what the current world is like...even with regulations. Imagine a Trump world with everyone free to do whatever they want with no regard for anyone or anything. This story is just a little peek at that world. Be careful what you wish for...you may just get it.
13
Yes, because every article no matter what the topic always comes back to Trump. The mental illness in this country is deep and wide.
4
None of Trump's supporters are advocating in favor of removing all regulations. What we would like to see is enforcement of existing regulations or of replacement regulations if the current rules are not working. There is no deficit of regulations governing the use of scaffolds or the requirement that landlords maintain their properties in a habitable condition. Obviously, the regulations have not been adequately enforced against the owners of the buildings in this article. So why hasn't the NYT investigated the owners and attempted and explanation of why they have not been able to bring the building to habitable conditions in 17 years?
Are the non-profit owners waiting until the building is condemned so that they can sell it to their cousin, the real estate developer and get out from under the city restriction that its use be restricted?
Are the non-profit owners waiting until the building is condemned so that they can sell it to their cousin, the real estate developer and get out from under the city restriction that its use be restricted?
In New York — and most other states — insurance is required to drive a car, correct? Harsh as it may sound, if you can't afford the maintenance on your building, perhaps you shouldn't own it. Owning property is a privilege, not a right, and with that privilege come responsibilities. Take care of the repairs or sell your building to someone who will. The amount of scaffolding in the city and the length of time that it stays up are ridiculous.
25
I'm with you, ... but one WILL come very quickly to a giant fork in the road....
That is, DO YOU "seize" the building ... under any circumstances?
... or to you stick with fines, clearly not changing behavior - which is often the case with that "remedy."
And to make this very tough choice (well, consummately tough if you subscribe to "capitalism" and/or the Bill of Rights) even tougher, ask yourself what the city could/would do if they seized the most derelict properties?
Again, there are heavy duty political-moral decisions here, but even in NYC, we've mostly come to realize that we can't have every other citizen of NYC on the NYC payroll - or working on contracts they let out.
Time was the City built housing and served as a landlord. Suffice it to say that those days were at least 25 years back, and I'm dubious that anything like that would "fly" in 2017. (Mostly, it was the kind of disaster that Community Agency ownership is - when eviction is almost "off the table" - for obvious reasons - some buildings become a lot worse than eyesores!)
That is, DO YOU "seize" the building ... under any circumstances?
... or to you stick with fines, clearly not changing behavior - which is often the case with that "remedy."
And to make this very tough choice (well, consummately tough if you subscribe to "capitalism" and/or the Bill of Rights) even tougher, ask yourself what the city could/would do if they seized the most derelict properties?
Again, there are heavy duty political-moral decisions here, but even in NYC, we've mostly come to realize that we can't have every other citizen of NYC on the NYC payroll - or working on contracts they let out.
Time was the City built housing and served as a landlord. Suffice it to say that those days were at least 25 years back, and I'm dubious that anything like that would "fly" in 2017. (Mostly, it was the kind of disaster that Community Agency ownership is - when eviction is almost "off the table" - for obvious reasons - some buildings become a lot worse than eyesores!)
1
The building was in bad condition when the city sold it. There is a very god chance that the executive leadership of the "non-profit" housing charities have taken out enough in subsidized rent payments and executive salaries to have paid for the repairs but have instead lined their own pockets.
4
If memory serves, the young woman killed in 1980 was a Hunter College student, the first in her family to go to college and the chunk of masonry that struck her down was debris from the construction of the typically godawful Trump apartment building now occupying the east section of the corner of 68th and 3rd Avenue.
This long ago, avoidable personal tragedy now seems to be writ large. What's past is prologue.
"They feed they lion, and he comes" -Philip Levine, "They Feed They Lion"
This long ago, avoidable personal tragedy now seems to be writ large. What's past is prologue.
"They feed they lion, and he comes" -Philip Levine, "They Feed They Lion"
3
This is a city-wide problem ... and underscores the too many and too significant connections between our elected officials and what is arguably NYC's biggest industry - real estate.
That is, if REBNY (more or less everybody involved with housing in NY EXCEPT tenants and other [mostly] non-billionaires) hates this or that City Councilman, s/he may be vulnerable to a primary challenge. Certainly, s/he is DOA when it comes to moving up the political totem pole.
Other cities take their streetscapes way more seriously than NYC, and that's a darn shame. Big Real Estate mostly fights landmarking, and anything else that might dent their profits. The only reason we have scaffolding is that in a rush to complete construction projects, some people have gotten killed or seriously injured.
Our City Council may not be quite the cesspool in terms of ethics that Albany still appears to be, but it certainly has very few one might identify as the best and the brightest.
Wouldn't it be great if we had a Mayor and half the Council who actually thought, "What legislation would make sense here?" rather than "I better check with my friends in the R.E. industry before I take a position."
I know, I know - pigs will fly....
That is, if REBNY (more or less everybody involved with housing in NY EXCEPT tenants and other [mostly] non-billionaires) hates this or that City Councilman, s/he may be vulnerable to a primary challenge. Certainly, s/he is DOA when it comes to moving up the political totem pole.
Other cities take their streetscapes way more seriously than NYC, and that's a darn shame. Big Real Estate mostly fights landmarking, and anything else that might dent their profits. The only reason we have scaffolding is that in a rush to complete construction projects, some people have gotten killed or seriously injured.
Our City Council may not be quite the cesspool in terms of ethics that Albany still appears to be, but it certainly has very few one might identify as the best and the brightest.
Wouldn't it be great if we had a Mayor and half the Council who actually thought, "What legislation would make sense here?" rather than "I better check with my friends in the R.E. industry before I take a position."
I know, I know - pigs will fly....
8
What makes you believe that city government is not a cesspool in terms of ethics?
The city needs totally address the scaffolding issue. West End Avenue in the 80's is strewn with scaffolding. Practically half or 1/3 of the buildings have it and it's up for months and months on end. I've never spotted any work being done on these buildings.
11
Local Law 10/11, the "facade law", is a draconian response to a low-risk problem. This reform is tantamount to using Godzilla to kill an ant. The cost to property owners over the years since its inception has been enormous. The principal beneficiaries are the engineers, facade repair contractors and scaffolding suppliers. Every building higher than six floors is subject to the entire set of requirements regardless of the differences in risk based on the type of facade a building has, its age, or any other factor. It is time for a serious study to be done by an impartial entity to assess the total cost this law has visited upon property owners vs. the likely numbers of injuries or deaths prevented. I do not believe that any cost/benefit analysis will conclude that this law should remain in effect in its current form. We who own average co-op apartments in middle class buildings have spent an excessive amount of money to comply with this law, while experiencing the misery of living in the building while the work is being done. Property owners need relief from this well-meaning but grossly excessive law.
8
Low risk for injury or death is okay unless your the person who gets killed. I say, make the owners fix the building in a certain amount of time or fine them and if they take can't pay the fine and after a couple times being fined make them sell the building.
8