It solely will get extra embarrassing for Mayor Eric Adams’ comically toothless “crackdown” on the town’s out-of-control sidewalk scaffolding scourge.
After Adams introduced a “Get Sheds Down” program final week to cut back the variety of building eyesores that appear to face endlessly, Publish columnist Howard Husock revealed that NYCHA, the town’s public housing authority, has extra long-standing sheds in place than any non-public landlord — 26 miles of them.
However immortal-seeming, city-owned scaffold abominations aren’t solely at quasi-autonomous, cash-strapped NYCHA areas.
Additionally they blight workplace buildings which are 100% owned and managed by Metropolis Corridor itself.
Realty Verify discovered Public Shame No. 1 at 2 Lafayette St., a century-old, 21-story, 350,000 square-foot property throughout the road from the Municipal Constructing.
It’s run by the Division of Citywide Administrative Providers, a sprawling forms with a $1.three billion annual price range and a couple of,615 staff.
DCAS is charged with buying, promoting and leasing metropolis property, its web site says.
You’d assume that with the true estate-driven precedence, it could know find out how to correctly preserve its personal buildings and repair any doubtlessly harmful flaws in a well timed trend.
However sheds have lengthy surrounded 2 Lafayette on all 4 sides — alongside Lafayette, Elk, Duane and Reade streets.
The gloomy tunnels cowl storefronts and subway entrances and supply refuge for dope-smoking vagrants who harass folks coming to work.
Town’s Division for the Getting older has places of work at 2 Lafayette, however the sheds appear to be ageless.
They’ve been up since 2017, in response to Division of Buildings data. Sources in neighboring buildings — and inside 2 Lafayette St. itself — mentioned they hardly ever if ever see any facade work being executed.
For good measure, the sheds which are supposed to guard passers-by from falling particles could be harmful themselves.
The DOB data present an open shed violation at 2 Lafayette from April 5, which states “pedestrian safety doesn’t meet code specs” attributable to “deteriorated mud sills in a number of areas all through shed.”
A DCAS spokesman mentioned the sheds had been put as much as “mitigate unsafe circumstances for the general public” as required beneath Native Legislation 11, the 1998 laws that toughened earlier guidelines for façade inspections each 5 years for each constructing at the very least six tales tall.
The constructing has “deliberate façade work and will likely be coming into the design part inside the subsequent six weeks.
Design will take an estimated 18 months,” the rep mentioned.
As for the open DOB violations, “DCAS is working with its contractor to evaluate the violations and make repairs.”
At this price, Adams will clear up the migrants disaster first.