© Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK + © Josh Morgan-USA TODAY
(New York, NY) – After 21 years, New York City’s longest standing scaffolding has been removed. Identified by city officials as a construction shed, the hunter green wood and steel scaffolding blocked out the sun along the front of 409 Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem for over two decades.
The co-op building dates back to 1917 and its residents had to come up with millions of dollars to repair the façade. Mayor Eric Adams was there to mark the occasion on Friday.
City Hall says the Adams’ administration’s scaffolding-removal campaign has helped free up 11 miles of sidewalk. Since beginning the effort earlier this year, around 500 scaffolding setups have been removed. Mayor Adams says the City Council should further assists the Department of Buildings in this ongoing effort, by providing them the tools needed to go even further — in terms of forcing building owners to get repairs done, so construction sheds can be removed.
