New York Has 280 Miles of Scaffolding, and a Map to Navigate It
(THE NEW YORK TIMES) The big blue dot on the map is not a subway stop, historical site or destination restaurant.
Instead, it is another New York City landmark: scaffolding.
The dot marks a wood-and-steel frame covering the front of a long-unfinished project on a brownstone-lined block in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. The permit for it was issued by the city’s Buildings Department in January 2006, and it is now the oldest such scaffolding in New York, according to department records.
The 11-year-old scaffolding is on a new map developed by the Buildings Department that displays more than 7,700 similar structures currently parked in front of city buildings. Many of them have been up for years with officials sometimes having no idea when they will come down, or, in some cases, if they are even needed anymore.
Though intended to protect passers-by from falling debris, these eyesores known as sidewalk sheds have often become a blight, drawing a barrage of complaints from residents and businesses that they block light and views, attract crime and litter and impede foot traffic along congested sidewalks.
“It becomes part of the city landscape; you dodge it every day,” said Kwanele Mpanza, 34, a real estate agent who lives around the corner from the aging Park Slope scaffolding. “As a user of the city, it makes it more difficult to get where you need to go. It’s an additional obstacle.”
Source: New York Has 280 Miles of Scaffolding, and a Map to Navigate It – The New York Times