Why New York City Can’t Fix Its Ugly Scaffolding Problem
18th February 2024
Anne “LaVerne” Gaither teared up when workers dismantled the hunter-green plywood and metal scaffolding that for 21 years obscured the entrance of her Harlem apartment building.
The 220-foot-long structure, known here as a sidewalk shed, was New York City’s oldest existing shed until it came down in December. It was originally built in 2002 to protect pedestrians during required repairs to the neo-Georgian facade of 409 Edgecombe Ave., a century-old landmark once home to luminaries such as W.E.B. DuBois and Thurgood Marshall.
Gaither, 93 years old, used to keep bottles of water for the workers on the wooden platform outside her second-story window. “My tears were thanks for being alive to see it come down,” she said.
A few weeks later, damage caused by a deadly fire forced the rise of a new shed.