By Gus Saltonstall
A combination of a long-stretching sidewalk shed and scaffolding has enveloped the P.S. 87 school on the Upper West Side since 2020.
The different forms of scaffolding, along with construction equipment, now take up a considerable amount of the West 78th Street block, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, where the elementary school is located.
“I don’t have school-age children, but I live in the neighborhood and there are students whose entire attendance has been behind construction cover,” a neighbor of the school emailed West Side Rag. “I don’t seem to know how to find if it has a potential end date.”
Here’s what we were able to find out about the construction project at the popular Upper West Side school, and when it is expected to be completed.
Timeline and Details
The initial project to upgrade the building and facade at P.S. 87 kicked off in early 2020, shortly before all school construction projects were ordered to pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As a result, the project has been impacted by not only that pause, but the COVID-induced supply chain issues for critical materials,” Kevin Ortiz, a spokesperson for the School Construction Authority, told West Side Rag.
Ortiz added that an unspecified “unforeseen condition” also called for additional repairs on the facade that were not part of the original project plan.
In terms of where the work on the building currently stands, the School Construction Authority is “in the middle of exterior modification work.”
“Window installation and coping stone installation is ongoing, and roof work has commenced,” Ortiz said.
He added that the School Construction Authority has been in consistent communication with the local block association and school community to address any issues, and that they should continue to contact the agency with any possible concerns.
And what about the end date?
Ortiz told the Rag that the work is expected to be completed and the scaffolding removed by the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.
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They also did a bang up job on MS333 which took about a decade to complete mostly at night.
PS 166 on W 89th going into its 4th year of scaffold construction hell.
PS 165 was all done over a year ago. They did a wonderful job.
“ Ortiz told the Rag that the work is expected to be completed and the scaffolding removed by the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.”
I sure hope so but not betting on it
Good luck with that. Massive scaffolding at PS 165 (108th- 109th) was up for over 15 years. Started long before COVID-19, work was slow walked by the contractor. I had a direct view from my 3rd floor apartment across the street. The Board of Ed doesn’t care.
Same thing with PS 166. There’s a very small crew – and some days absolutely no work being done. It has been 4 years, there is so much garbage accumulating every day on the site, the rat population has quadrupled – they’re running around the playground all night where the kids spend all of their recess time. It’s been so frustrating.
What about 93rd Street? There the work on .the school goes on day and night and no visible change. Who pays for all this overtime?
I believe PS163 (the one on 97th) also seems to be having an endless construction project.
I understand that they are trying not to be disruptive to education but there is plenty they can do during the school year and they should be working non-stop during breaks and over the summer. It really shouldn’t be this hard.
Corruption and kickbacks
Absolutely! What other reason could there be to have this disgraceful situation occurring all over the City for years and years!??
I wish there could be some accountability. It’s only gonna get worse.. No where else in the civilized world does this happen. year after year.
The amount of scaffolding on the UWS is insane. It is up for years. This also extends into the Upper Upper West Side and Morningside Heights. This really impedes businesses, signage, and makes sidewalks dark and unsafe. Buildings need to be fined daily for scaffolding up too long.
Goody more fines!…who pays those?…the taxpayers!
Certainly those corrupt rip-off crooks are not! Shocking .. And it’s been going on for years. Who has the power to fix it I wonder?
Other major cities with much worse weather conditions ( often given as the reason for archaic LOCAL Law 11, for instance) do not go through this lunacy. These endless eyesores are not the landscape in Boston or Chicago. Incompetent leaders making terrible decisions that has resulted in a totally out of control, over- regulated locality has resulted in NYC being one of the ugliest cities the world. A seemingly inept local work force does not help things either.
PS 87 Parent here. Bull crap Kevin!
There is something very wrong with this entire process. There is zero transparency. Work on the building picked up half way through the school year this year only after whatever pressure the PTA could apply.
This needs attention at ALL levels. There needs to be a review of what has been done in the time since the project has kicked off from 2020. I suspect it’s not much!
The pace of work is glacial and we will likely graduate from the school without ever having seen the building.
One would hope that the treacherous sidewalk be repaired sooner than project completion. How is it that if a private building has a single crack in the sidewalk they receive a violation from the city and are required to repair it at their own expense, yet a city owned building does not need to fix a long-standing broken, dangerous sidewalk? Shame on you NYC!
The work involves asbestos abatement, and I’m concerned about its being well controlled. A third-party consultant, Project Monitor, which is overseeing the abatement, is supposed to be providing the results of air sampling and monitoring to school leadership to show it’s being conducted regularly. How can we find out if this is happening? Can the results be made public? Thank you for this story–would love further investigation into this.
The Mickey Mantle School on West End in the low 80s has also had scaffolding around it forever. I often walk home that way so the scaffolding is great for me in bad weather, but otherwise this is a mess.
It has been at least seven years. I spoke with the contractors four years ago when they were doing facade work. They told me that the roof was in bad shape and they offered BOE to fix it for fifty thousand dollars. BOE told them no, finish the facade work, take down your scaffolding, we will put up new scaffolding (at 10-20K per month) and then ask for bids.
ya, ya ya…….
there ought to be a law!!’
Kevin,, you REFUSED to meet with the 78th St Block Association so no, there has not been “good communication.” And thanks to the endless scaffolding, we’ve seen an increase in rats; the newly planted trees beneath the scaffolding are dying amd the street lights are blocked, causing that side of the street to be dark and dangerous on the weekends.
This project is years over schedule and needs oversight! GALE B, please help!
Well, I live around to this project and and are on first name basis with some of the construction workers.
I’m told is this project is dragging on because of incompete architects who change specs constantly, project management that do not order materials in time and general a lack of urgency to get this project finished and clean this mess up.
And no, the School Construction Authority has not kept anyone informed. Like the other reader, it’s impossible to find any information.
If this scaffolding is removed by the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.
I’ll eat my hat.
In 1976 I painted the mural on PS 87 when my children were students there. I hope to live long enough to refresh the mural should the wall ever be available again. Better hurry. I am 82 years old.
As someone who taught in a building that was enshrouded in scaffolding for well over a decade, I don’t trust the SCA at all. The empire state building was built in a year, but somehow children and educators have to just be patient as the can keeps getting kicked on down an endless road.