Mayor Adams moves to remove sidewalk sheds, including more than 100 in greater Riverdale

This is New York City. We are better than ever. We cannot continue to be a skeleton city covered in sidewalk sheds.”

ERIC ADAMS, NYC mayor

Taking a drive through Riverdale without seeing a sidewalk shed is a lot like taking a walk this time of year and not seeing a spotted lantern fly. In New York City there are almost 9,000 such sheds, with the total linear feet being more than 2 million. That’s the distance to get from Riverdale to Montréal, Canada.

Many call them an eyesore and it is for that reason that Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has announced a plan to get rid of them.

Sidewalk sheds are meant to be a temporary structure that protects pedestrians from any falling debris while construction or work is taking place on a building. It isn’t uncommon for a sidewalk shed to remain in a spot even long after construction is finished. According to the city’s buildings department, of the 8,921 sidewalk sheds, the average age is 482 days. The oldest sidewalk shed has been standing in Manhattan for 17 years.

The “Get Sheds Down” plan seeks to make it so that property owners are incentivized to complete safety work and get sheds down, rather than leave them up for years.

“We have nearly 400 miles of sheds across our city taking up public space that belongs to New Yorkers,” Adams wrote in a letter. “This is New York City. We are back better than ever. We cannot continue to be a skeleton city covered in sidewalk sheds.”

Adams says that they will be increasing oversight and enforcement of sidewalk sheds. Rather than target small property owners, the administration will be focused on business districts where property owners have the resources to repair work. They are also doubling down on alternatives to sidewalk sheds like netting.

In Riverdale there are at least 130 sidewalk sheds, according to the city’s buildings department. Other sites in greater Riverdale that have had sheds surrounding their buildings include the Kingsbridge/Riverdale Academy, Cannon Heights co-ops, and Amalgamated Housing at 80 Van Cortlandt Park South.

At 6425 Broadway, where a sidewalk shed was recently erected, one resident who asked to be referred to as “T” had positive words for Adams’ plan.

“I think it’s an eyesore,” T said. “I think the buildings need to be held accountable. If it’s up for a certain amount of the time. If the work is completed, maybe the building inspectors need to come out more and inspect the buildings, make sure the work is complete. Unless that work is completed, they need to start giving out fines to get this eyesore out. We have a beautiful city; let’s take a look at it.”

Getting rid of all the “scaffolding” would also help the landlord in getting more tenants, T said. At that Broadway address, the sidewalk shed has only been there for about two weeks. When he first saw it, he thought it was “monstrous.”

Recently, T said he had to call the superintendent because there was a homeless man who went under the netting on a bush and was sleeping on the steps.

“Granted, you feel bad,” T said. “Homelessness, we all gotta share the burden on that. But also we don’t know if it’s a mental health issue, if something’s going to happen. The super kind of confronted him politely and he got upset about that. It’s kind of frustrating because then you don’t want this to become a whole area of people just laying out.”

T has had a talk with his children about being extra cautious when coming out of the building because it’s hard to tell if someone is hiding in a bush or not due to the netting.

Additionally, the minimal lighting is not enough, he says.

Despite being told the sidewalk shed at 6425 Broadway should only be up for a month, T has doubts. He hasn’t seen construction or trucks despite that it’s been up for two weeks. He said that sidewalk sheds that don’t get taken down should be penalized, with an incentive to contractors and property owners to end construction earlier.

Glenn Harrison, a Far Rockaway resident who worked for housing for 17 years, shared a similar sentiment, as he stood under a sidewalk shed on Broadway that’s been around for about six years.

“It makes the place look like a prison,” Harrison said. “People feel like they’re gated in. If you walk into the project, you’ll see a lot of the fences, they have it so people can’t sit down anymore.”

As a former housing worker, he said he’s seen the city waste millions and millions of dollars. Before living in Queens at a senior citizens building, Harrison was in a homeless shelter for nine years with his wife.

“The city was paying $330 a day,” Harrison said. “Now this is what I find insane, why we was in the homeless shelter. Now you figure that out. (There’s) $1.4 million or something and instead they kept giving us vouchers for $600, $700. You can’t get an apartment for $600, $700.”

Harrison said the particular sidewalk shed was put up for roof work, but it never happened. He’s seen a buildup of trash that attracts rats, saying contractors only go through the fences to clean once a month. In addition to being an eyesore, he said the sheds also attract crime to the area.

According to Adams letter, the Get Sheds Down plan will bring in more light, space, and end up with less crime.