New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is running for mayor along with a whole bunch of other candidates, but run or not she is still leader of the local legislature and we applaud her for finally bringing a package of scaffolding reform bills up for a vote at the end of this month.
Mark your calendar for March 26.
We are not alone in disliking the structures formally known as “sidewalk sheds,” which arise everywhere and never seem to be removed. All New Yorkers moan when they see one on a block up ahead and make the quick calculation of: Do I walk underneath or in the roadbed or move to the other side of the street?
Heck, back in 2007 we asked Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s buildings commissioner, Patricia Lancaster, if she minded walking under the scaffolding and her unguarded and honest answer was “I don’t want to make you nervous, but I cross the street, thank you very much.”
Nothing has changed in 18 years except there are more and more buildings encased in the annoying scaffolding.
A trio of bills to get the damn things down faster was first introduced two years ago, in March 2023. Nothing happened. The bills, from prime sponsor Keith Powers, expired when all 51 Council members faced election that November.
And so last year, following the elections, Powers started again, re-introducing the three bills, with 20 or so sponsors on each (remember 26 is an absolute majority in the 51). There was a hearing in June and then silence again. Until now. We don’t know if the mayoral campaign by Speaker Adams is a factor, but we don’t care. With this level of support, the measures are more than likely to pass.
One of the big backers of the package is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who wrote in these pages along with Powers and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine that the almost permanent scaffolding becomes “a magnet for drug sales, discarded syringes, and public defecation.”
Scaffolding also provides places for criminals to hide in wait as well as interfering with good street lighting and the unobstructed views of security cameras.
In other words, there are lots of reasons to reduce the blight. And there’s no one arguing to keep unneeded scaffolding up long after its initial purpose, façade inspections or repairs, has concluded.
Unlike Congress, where a majority of the members can force a bill to the floor, called a discharge petition, the Council has no such rule. The speaker alone decides what moves and what sits. And until now, the scaffolding reforms have sat, like the scaffolding cluttering up too many sidewalks.
But the speaker has given the bills the green light to proceed. They will have to go back before the Housing and Buildings Committee, and if approved, on to the floor for the full membership.
Let every Council member speak out about the need to get rid of the scaffolding and then ask for a roll call. We’d be surprised if there are any votes in the negative. After that, start counting the days until New Yorkers get back their sidewalks and wonder why it took so long for such an obvious move to get enacted.
