Say No to Scaffolding

Op Ed

Sidewalk sheds and scaffolding plague the city and cause unnecessary eyesores

By John Elari

There is something I would like you to look into: the ever-increasing number of buildings shrouded in scaffolding and/or sidewalk sheds in NYC. I use the term ever-increasing because I understand that's exactly what is happening. And it's all because of very stringent Department of Buildings inspection laws; more stringent that in any other city, from what I understand.

The result is that New Yorkers have to put up with the very ugly scaffolding and/or sidewalk sheds on the landscape of our City to a greater degree as the years go by. And I, for one, hate it, and I think many other New Yorkers do too. And this can only mean that we will never, ever be free of it. It will be here forever. That's a disgusting thought. I would like the City to find a way to cut down on scaffolding and/or sidewalk sheds, but understand, in some cases, that building owners will sometimes leave it up for years because they don't have the money to take it down.

I'm sure there are fines for not doing a building inspection as set down by law; there should be fines for leaving the scaffolding/sheds up too long also. And let's get rid of it all forever.