UPDATE: Thursday, February 19 at 1:15 p.m.: The Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector for The Astor said on Wednesday that the facade work on the Upper West Side’s property middle tower is expected to be completed in April of 2026, and that work on the north tower of the address is set to be finished in June of 2026, a Department of Buildings spokesperson told West Side Rag on Thursday.
The city agency spokesperson added that this would be a major step in the timeline of the sidewalk shed and scaffolding coming down, but the facade work and construction projects at the upper levels of the building would still need to be completed, for which he did not provide a timeline.
By Gus Saltonstall
522 feet.
That is how far the sidewalk shed stretches around the The Astor building at 2139 Broadway, between West 75th and 76th streets.
To put another way, it is 174 yards of scaffold. Easily longer than a football field and three times the length of an Olympic swimming pool.
The sidewalk shed covers the entire block on the west side of Broadway, between West 75th and 76th streets, and also wraps around the corner toward West End Avenue on both streets. Due to its official “heavy duty” classification, the sidewalk shed has thicker stanchions and roofing than a typical scaffold, which means less light travels through onto the sidewalk and pedestrians are met with more metal than other stretches of construction equipment.
There has been a sidewalk shed on the Broadway block for nearly 12 years, according to the Department of Buildings’ Active Sidewalk Shed tracker. The shed first swathed the street in June of 2014, before coming halfway down from 2021 through 2023, and then going fully back up, along with the construction netting, in 2024, Google Maps images show.
West Side Rag reached out to the DOB for more information on the reasoning for the sidewalk shed. Here is how it was explained by a spokesperson from the city agency.
In 2014, the shed was erected in connection with a “vertical enlargement project” at the address, which was meant to add stories to The Astor. There have been permits related to this vertical enlargement project since 2012 at the building, and multiple of those construction jobs are still active.
Additionally, the building is part of the city’s Facade Inspection and Safety Program because it is over six stories in height, and there is currently a job to repair issues in the facade that were discovered in 2023, which included cracked limestones, cracked terra cotta segments, and several examples of eroded mortar joints [the filled space between bricks that serve as the structural bonds].
In 2020, The Astor was placed in the DOB’s Long Standing Shed program, which subjects building owners who have had sidewalk sheds in place for more than three years to enhanced enforcement actions, including proactive inspections, potential affirmative litigation, and potential criminal court summonses.
However, a DOB spokesperson said the city agency hasn’t pursued enhanced enforcement against The Astor because “construction jobs have remained active since the sidewalk shed first went up and needed repairs at parts of the building have been made.”
In response to the Rag’s email, though, the DOB reached out to the building’s owner and their Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector to get an updated timeline for when the permits at The Astor will be closed out and the sidewalk shed removed.
Who Owns the Building?
The Astor is owned by the CIM Group, which is a real estate and infrastructure firm. Initially, the CIM Group was one of the lenders on a renovation project of the Upper West Side building by its previous owner, HFZ Capital Development, but the developer ran into problems, and the CIM Group foreclosed on the property in 2021.
Last month, The Astor’s condo board threatened to sue the CIM Group related to the ongoing construction at the building, but the paperwork filed in New York State Supreme Court did not specify the issues, as first reported by Crain’s.
CIM Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Rag.
The Situation at the Street Level
There are four commercial spaces on Broadway under the sidewalk shed at The Astor, between West 75th and 76th streets, and three of them are vacant. 260 Sample Sale is the lone business still operating on the street.
Multiple readers have also mentioned that homeless encampments have become fixtures on the block. When West Side Rag visited the street on Tuesday, there were two men with extensive set ups underneath the sidewalk shed, but both denied an attempt at questions.
The Rag will update this story when we hear back from the DOB on the updated timeline for The Astor sidewalk shed.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
That stretch of block is an eyesore, made more so by the encampments. It’s depressing and I don’t know why local politicians have allowed this mess to continue. What business would want to move into that space looking the way it does? Same thing with 86th and Broadway, where a homeless person has recently been defacing the pavement outside my building with colored chalks and messages about ICE. He’s doing the same thing to the cement barriers on each side of the intersection at 86Th and Broadway. I feel like I’m back in the East Village.
All the real estate people know that once an active business is in place it’s not very difficult to move things and people out of the way, in the meantime wasted city space should be used for something rather than nothing
Anyone who has experience with sleeping outside knows just how competitive it is to use public space, if you had that type of experience you wouldn’t bother to write what you have written here
#zerowaste #highefficiency
Defacing the pavement? Yuppie alert
HFZ deserves a special place in hell for the way they treated the 20 or so rent-stabilized tenants in the Astor during the condo conversion Construction noise and dust have plagued the residents for the past 10 years.
Liberal political messages? Written in colored chalk?! In New York City?!?
If our unhoused neighbor is writing anything besides “ICE OUT” why do you care? Colored chalks as you describe are impermanent and ultimately not illegal. The NIMBY-ism of your comment is unreal!
Well since I live in the building you can take the homeless (unhoused) fire hazard with all the trash. Who I’ve seen urinate and defecate at the doors of townhouses up the street. You’re right NOT IN MY BACK YARD! He’s all yours.
What time would you like to come pick them up?
How have you determined that anything is a fire hazard? Have you noticed that a fire truck appears and parks right here about twice a day while the firemen get their groceries? I wonder why the firefighters aren’t concerned about any fire hazards? Hahahaha
Did you get any pictures to prove that someone is actually urinating or defecating ‘at the doors of townhouses’ or are you lying and exaggerating? Are you actually familiar enough with any of these people to know for sure who it was and where they sleep?
Unhoused neighbor? They’re homeless. Setting up an encampment doesn’t make someone your neighbor. And many people here support ICE.
Even a humble cardboard box can be made into a home, just because you don’t have the skills to build cheaply and efficiently or the physical fitness to live with less accommodation doesn’t mean that you get to decide who is homeless and who isn’t
Anyone who who is brave enough to sleep in an exposed and venerable manner near you has a vested interest in neighborhood security and it is wise to give them as many incentives as possible to maintain and improve that security
Chalking the sidewalk also violates Section 19-138 of the NYC Administrative Code
While you may dislike it, there is actually no law against drawing on the sidewalk, as long as the materials used are not permanent. Chalk is the LEAST permanent medium for drawing on the sidewalk. The kids in my building draw on our sidewalk regularly, and it all comes off with the next rain, or a good hosing down.
There actually is a law.
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!
…“construction jobs have remained active since the sidewalk shed first went up and needed repairs at parts of the building have been made.”
Setting aside the hopelessly ungrammatical nature of this sentence, this is utter blaoney.
I pass by that building almost every day. and I have RARELY seen any work going on. Is the DOB simply taking the owner’s word for it? Or are they at least doing the “proactive inspections” to determine whether the owner is telling the truth?
I would very much like to know, because not only is this whole thing a massive eyesore, but no NEW business is going to open up under an active sidewalk shed and scaffolding, so all those empty storefronts will remain empty until the shed comes down.
Construction dragged on during Covid and HFZ financial fall but scaffolding came down in 2020 there was a small remaining shed portion at the north tower as they finished work on the penthouse exterior. In 25 they reinstalled scaffolding to do the five-year exterior façade and at the beginning of this year, they extended the scaffolding to the north tower.
As one of the condo owners paying for the scaffolding I want it gone sooner than later.
But luckily the new heavy scaffolding is actually more open less intrusive and brighter lit at the street level.
Ian have you seen the rest of the city there is scaffolding everywhere. Welcome to New York!
Why doesn’t the DOB impose deadlines for every work order/violation?
Defund the DOB
Terrible. The scaffolding has also allowed that rat Ethan to infest that block for months now.
Why are you calling me a rat? Are you not able to determine the difference between a rat and a human?
Really? I could have sworn it was Ethel.
What gave you that idea?
You are on a first name basis with a rodent?
Unfortunately
Aren’t they referring to Ethan aka ‘Freckles?’ He’s been out there since he was in his 20’s. In another 10 years everyone will be discussing how sad it is that no one did anything to help him, or Karl, or the other men in the neighborhood that the collective ‘they’ refer to as ‘fixtures.’ : (
Help would be great, I have plenty of plans for my life and the city that I would like to see realized
Ethan does not want help. He lives on the street by choice. Check out his Facebook page. Ethan Freckles
I do want help with the work that I’m doing, I don’t want to become a rent slave or a wage slave as most of you have resigned yourselves to being
There’s truly nothing wrong with spending more time outdoors and sleeping outside, even in the city, I’m not harming myself or anyone else either
The city would be far better if more people made an effort to confront and deter the noise, pollution, and violence that most people assume is normal and passively accept as tolerable
It’s very possible and imperative to create more humane and hospitable public spaces for everyone
Cowering inside and complaining to the politicians and police has proven to be largely ineffective and besides, if you want a thing done well it’s prudent to do it yourself
“There’s truly nothing wrong with spending more time outdoors and sleeping outside”
Your right – it’s called camping! And when you do it in my yard its called trespassing.
And whose electricity are you using to post?
The city would be far better if more people made an effort to confront and deter blight.
“It’s very possible and imperative to create more humane and hospitable public spaces for everyone”
But when one person takes over that public space for their own personal use it’s no longer public. It’s monopolized by one.
The sidewalk is not your yard and you probably don’t even have a yard so you have no reason to mention trespassing
The electricity that I’m using to post is my electricity and I have directly and indirectly generated it myself
Well if you really want to talk about blight then perhaps we should begin to define the word ‘blight’ more specifically such as drug addiction, brain damage, disability, anyone who is unfit or senile etc.
None of these designations could be reasonably used to describe me by the way
No one has taken over anything, especially not anything that is seriously contested, if anyone has any ideas about better uses of this public sidewalk space they are welcome to present them to me so we can confer about improving the neighborhood together
As for monopoly, if you are brave enough to attempt a conversation with me I think you’ll find that I’m far better at sharing public space than anyone you have ever met or even heard about and my cat will second that opinion if you are considerate enough to communicate with her on the matter
Keep in mind Ethan chooses to live on the street. He’s been booted out of so many UWS locations but still remains undeterred in existing on the street. Not only is he and eyesore and a nuisance, he is an unrepentant misogynist and homophobe, making crude and repellant comments to passersby. Gale Brewer knows of his existence all too well, but has stopped trying to deter him, it seems.
“Help” him?? LOL. a quick google search will tell you everything you need to know.
A quick Google search will tell you what someone wanted you think about me for their own selfish and shortsighted purposes
And anyone who fails to think critically or do their own through research deserves to live with the wanton consequences of their own ignorance and intellectual slothfulness
He (Ethan “Freckles”) openly states that this is a lifestyle choice for him, so don’t be sad that “no one did anything to help him.” He is proud of living off the land and surviving on the kindness of strangers rather than giving in to “the man.” That he is an eyesore makes him all the more proud of his choice. He was living on Columbus Ave. for a while before taking up “residence” by the Astor, so he has somehow survived for many, many years this way.
If anyone wants to help me beautify myself or the neighborhood I’m open to conversations and ideas that might lead to progress
If all you can say is that I’m an eyesore then perhaps consider that your priorities are out of order and your objectives are foolish
2021 article about Ethan.
https://nypost.com/2021/05/15/minimalist-who-camps-on-nyc-streets-labeled-a-nuisance-by-residents/
100% a proud hipster freegan.
He rankles me with his cutesy sidewalk messages and his “igloo” after it snowed. If he’s that clever, he should be able to secure employment and live in an actual apartment, not some makeshift igloo or whatever other setup he ordinarily has.
I employ and direct myself as innovatively and creatively as law enforcement will allow
Living in an apartment and working to maintain buildings is mostly a waste of everyone’s life
Too much comfort causes sedentary lifestyles and consequent diseases
Isolation from your community and nature and building superfluous barriers causes antisocial disconnected behavior patterns
Choosing nomadism and minimalism is an effective method for rejecting over-consumerism reducing pollution and focussing on one’s personal development rather than the irrational accumulation of material possessions
I can live with my cargo bike micro mobile home, if I had significantly more cash flow I would consider living in a van or on a boat
If I’m able to become even more clever then I can live with even less possessions
“Multiple readers have also mentioned that homeless encampments have become fixtures on the block. When West Side Rag visited the street on Tuesday, there were two men with extensive set ups underneath the sidewalk shed, but both denied an attempt at questions.”
I was gone to visit the local soup kitchen at 77th & West end on Tuesday
Would the author kindly explain how The Astor could be “owned by the CIM Group” but have a Condo Board? I thought that The Astor was a Condominium (which means that the building is comprised of Condominium Units — either residential or commercial (apartments or stores/shops. Something’s amiss here. Gus, what say you?
Until a certain threshold of condo units are sold, the “owner/developer” maintains a seat on the condo board which often has the power to control board decisions. Once that threshold is met, the owner/developer will give up their seat on the board, but that does not excuse them from any lawsuits the owners/board may have for things such as construction defects, etc.
It’s well known that it is cheaper to pay scaffolding fines (which is an obvious city racket) than it is to do restoration work.
This is rarely the case. Sidewalk sheds are in high-demand, and when your project runs longer than anticipated due to DOB/Landmarks you legally can’t take it down — that’s when they get you. There is ample material out there regarding how onerous, time consuming and broken the FISP process is.
Such sheds built with longer and heavier posts let more light in from the street (Broadway here) than normal construction sheds. That the posts cast a larger shadow than the poles used for normal lower construction sheds is meaningless. Also, in this case, the artificial lighting is better than the single “bulbs” used in regular sheds.
But the fact of the higher decks and wider openings doesn’t excuse the landlord and construction teams foot dragging.
The broader issue here is the LL11 requirements. I’m on the Board of my condo which has a lot of terracotta (as do many buildings on the UWS including the Astor).
Forget about all the other work – the DoB requires a like for like replacement on terracotta.
There are literally only one (maybe two) companies in NY State that can produce the terracotta replacement.
Try getting on their schedule – they have a backlog of several years. Trust me, I have experienced this.
A simple change – like allowing replica terracotta that you cannot spot the difference from the street – is available. This is both cheaper and much quicker to obtain.
There are many other LL11 changes that can be made which will have zero impact on the safety issue (which LL11 is supposed to address).
The changes will reduce the cost burden and also accelerate the repairs.
Unfortunately, there are too many vested interests to allow this to happen.
I’ve been through 5 LL11 projects. Each one gets more and more problematic and expensive for no reason.
Amen Sam! I am on the board of my UWS landmarked building and we had to endure the increased cost and delay (and sidewalk shed) of Landmarks stucco requirements (below the 7th floor). I asked Gail Brewer’s office for help with appealing to Landmarks – and got bupkis. So I wrote to Landmarks myself – and got a nice form letter months later. I support Landmarks’ goals generally but this nonsensical requirement has soured me on the agency.
I am also on the board of my condo and echo this sentiment. The WSR should do an expose on the problematic unintended consequences of like for like replacement. No one is suggesting changing the character of the neighborhood but I’d also bet no one can pick out real terracotta from a replica.
Oh, wow. I’m on the board of my coop, and we did a LL11 project in 2024. We’re just an ordinary dull building, and once we got moving it actually went pretty quickly – just dealing with crappy 1950s white brick, not terra cotta, and not landmarked. You all seriously have my sympathy, having to deal with that.
I really do wonder whether LL11 has just become a job-creation scheme at the expense of the buildings and all the neighborhoods saddled with endless scaffolding.
Well, you just have to look at the Landmarks approved fiberglas stair rails on “restored” brownstones to the east of Broadway to see how bad fake terracotta could be.
Anyhow, it’s likely mold making that’s the most costly part of the opertion, not the final materials. 3D scanners for facade work/replication should come down in price as patents expire.
Completely disagree. The vast majority of people cannot distinguish between real and fake terracotta. LPC and the people in charge of LL11 need to standardize some of these replacements in order to a) alleviate the time it takes to get approvals to do the work b) to help complete these now cost prohibitive projects by reducing the expense and wait time of terracotta. No stakeholder wants sheds up on the property for an extended amount of time. This seems like quick fixes for the city to address.
Right, but I didn’t say anything about fake terracotta. I pointed out how bad the fake wrought iron railings are in the landmarked district to the east of Broadway.
Before I see pettifogery, when I in fact mentioned fake terracotta it was as a hypothetical. I have no doubt that good fake terracotta could look good + endure for 50+ years. Albeit it won’t be cheap.
I tried to find a vendor who would do 3D printing for the portion of our facade work that wasn’t terra cotta. I could not find such a vendor.
3D printing is not the same as 3D scanning then making a mold for composites like carbon fiber or something cheaper like concrete.
With bit of work, you can find a 3D printing service for any shape at nearly any size, but at this size it will cost far far more than terracotta itself.
Meanwhile buildings hide behind scaffolding and netting for years and coop owners pay thousands more than they would otherwise.
For a different look that 95% of the world will never notice.
Doesn’t sound like you have actually experienced the process. I can tell you the replica terracotta is indistinguishable at street level.
The terracotta cost and length of time to replace are real. 3D scanners, drones, etc are already being used. This is not what takes time or cost.
My broader point is still valid – lots of changes can be made to LL11 to alleviate costs on building owners without sacrificing safety.
Didn’t say anything about fake terracotta. Said that the Landmarks approved fake wrought iron stair rails and balusters to the east of Broadway look awful.
You are correct, faked fiberglass “terracotta” done well would be indinguishable from the real thing.
Right, I assumed that 3D scanners are already in use. My point is that they are getting cheaper to use.
LL11 is a scam and should be repealed. No other cities live like this.
We really appreciate the west side rag looking into this. We all understand some inconvenience for construction but the conditions at the Astor are unacceptable and it’s been nearly 12 years. Broadway btw 75 & 76 has completely deteriorated and is now an unsafe eyesore. So many of my surrounding neighbors hope more can be done to rent these abandoned stores, clean up the sidewalk (garbage, broken sidewalk, homeless encampments) and get this construction completed so this scaffolding can finally come down.
It doesn’t sound unsafe to me.
Please fine these buildings and landlords with scaffolding up for more than nine months. Also please change the inspection schedule.
Exactly. Fines are the easy fix.
I don’t know why everyone is so upset. Zohran will fix this!
Who would’ve predicted THIS comment? 🙄
The Shed is up for 12 years. You’re blaming a guy in office for 6 weeks. What point are you trying to make?
20 years ago Health Nuts was a destination store on that block — largely because of David. No real retail draw on the block today.
I do miss David.
The Astor has also fenced in 75 feet of street parking on 76th St for 12 years. Occasionally there is construction material within the fence. More often though the space is used as a private parking lot. This 75 foot stretch would normally be metered parking.
Thank you for mentioning this—it’s a huge pain for residents on 76th! For years they housed a mobile boiler there that droned at all hours and often belched streams of thick exhaust into the air. The trash accumulation along the edges was so bad (and unnecessary, but no one made an effort to sweep it) and rats colonized that end of the street. At least the building removed the boiler last year.
Now they keep the area to fence off at least four parking spots (and regularly appear to park construction vehicles OUTSIDE the fence but backed up to the entrance) that often sit empty. I’m not trying to be a free parking advocate, but even as a pedestrian it blocks visibility and makes crossing 76th far more dangerous because you have to step into the street to confirm no cars or bikes are coming. I’m sympathetic that it could help the construction crews do their job if they have some street space to park or deposit materials, but this has been an issue for at least the 8 years I’ve lived here…it’s not speeding up construction.
Not to mention that the Astor then dumps ALL of the block-wide building’s trash bags onto the street behind the fenced area, which amounts to small mountains of trash in front of that business and right next to the Wallace Hotel. It takes over 10 minutes, sometimes 15, for sanitation workers to pick up each bag and throw it into the garbage truck, while cars get stuck behind the truck and get backed up all the way to WEA, honking the entire time. (I have literal footage of this because it gets so loud and absurd—I’m not exaggerating. I feel for the sanitation workers and the cars involved, and I’m not sure what the solution would be.)
The Astor is a nightmare neighbor. I imagine its residents are aware of the sidewalk scaffolding but may not realize the full extent of its effects on the area, because the building doesn’t block off the street or put any trash on 75th, near its own entrance and lobby. I hope the co-op board succeeds in motivating CIM to get its act together.
At least it gives some shelter to those 2 unhoused people.
The shelter does help a bit but I’d rather just pitch a proper tent if the police would allow me
A tent has always been the most affordable housing there is
The cottage of scaffolding is one of the worst facets of living in NYC. I lived in Istanbul for 4 years and rarely encountered a scaffold. Just this past week the entire south side of 57th St between 8th Ave and Broadway was covered in scaffolding. The north side of 57th between 8 and 9 has two different scaffolds up…one shrouds a building with all of the storefronts dark and the homeless have set up shop. This CAN be fixed but the politicians just don’t care…or they are beholden to the construction unions.
It’s the latter. Concentrated benefits for the unions and diffuse costs for the rest of us is a recipe for soft corruption.
Are the two unhoused men still living there?
Yes and they have been there consistently for the last 2-3 months.
We are here maintaining the bare minimum security and livability until anyone else can take on more responsibility for the stewardship and development of this area
Can you look at the sidewalk shed at the building at the southwest corner of 88 Street and West End Avenue. It has been there for a long time. The work area impinges on 88 Street and is a disgusting, filthy mess, full of debris. The sidewalk area is dark and filthy. as well, never cleaned. Workers are rarely seen at the building.
Amen. It’s inexcusable
Our new mayor didn’t feel it was appropriate to round up those encamped during the frigid weather and, as a result, 20 people died. The two men at the Astor need serious assistance and should be given such. And the rest of us should be able to live in a city where the sidewalks are not filled with enormous, filthy encampments set up by those needing mental health services. Now, after such a large number of deaths and the accompanying bad PR, he has changed policies and will start addressing those encamped on the sidewalks.
If you knew even the first thing about what being ‘rounded up’ entails you’d stop considering that as a viable option immediately
The people who died in the cold were not even sleeping outside at the time, it was all a fear mongering campaign propaganda designed to manipulate simpletons
There’s nothing wrong with camping, especially in derelict areas while venues are between tenants, and if you’d like things to be cleaner feel free to pickup litter, offer to take my trash bags away, wash my laundry, or invite me for a shower
It’s easy to assume that everyone who sleeps outside needs mental health services, but it’s much more productive to deliver the healthy food that would actually reduce violence and addiction and heal brain damage
yeah, everyone. if you’d like things to be cleaner, feel free to pick up after Ethan
And some of that is even verifiable:
https://apnews.com/article/zohran-mamdani-homeless-encampments-sweeps-a5b9db43f8a1b8244c5b6c8d1ad19005
No matter how you slice it, this is just a racket. Landlords have found a way to put off doing the much needed and expensive work and the city just collects the scaffolding fines and turns a blind eye! I’ve been an UpperWestSider since the ’80s and these bureaucratic issues have only grown.
We also have another case of a VERY long standing scaffolding at the corner of 74th and Columbus. It has been there for ever . No active construction or so it is.
Thank you Gus for “shedding light” on the Astor shed! I live across the street and it’s been a constant source of irritation for 12 years. That stretch of Broadway used to be bustling, and I believe the shed is a contibutor to the slow deterioration of my neighborhood.
What I’ve heard is that the scaffolding was up under HFZ, then taken down but when CIM came in to finish construction, the scaffolding had to go up again. Then Local 11 came, with the required scaffolding. If you pass by, Local 11 is finally finishing the job (were some permit delays). Because of expense they must wait for Local 11 to be done before all the scaffolding can come down, which should happen within a few months. Some of the comments here do not understand the multi faceted situation. Still, it is frustratingly long and sadly has attracted encampments that have not been attended to in a humane fashion.
It was never taken down.
It was taken down and put up again.
When you write “because of the expense” you hit the nail on the head. The system isn’t meant to spare these guys expense and provide them with parking, it’s meant to keep pedestrians safe. And it is true that cities around the world, with much older buildings than NYC, somehow manage to avoid this scaffolding nonsense (and occasionally reconstruct a fire-ravaged gothic cathedral in 1/3 the time this Astor monstrosity has been plaguing us).
I recently traveled through several European & Asian countries, and it is extremely rare to see scaffolding at all for the numerous masonry buildings.
They built the Empire State build g in 14 months. My how far we have fallen.
I live down the block from the Astor. Although they may be doing construction, they seem to be doing interior work (except for the LL11 work), and for nearly a decade all materials deliveries have been made via an alleyway entrance on W76 St ( and then I presume by service elevator to the apartment(s) they’re working on. There’s no excuse for keeping this thing up, besides the owner’s interest in not paying to take it down and the, if needed, re-erect a sidewalk shed. The entire neighborhood is suffering because this project seems to have been badly conceptualized and under-capitalized, and now the owners most likely are slow-rolling work to keep from expending cash. And while the homeless guys you mention are no threat to anyone, they’re continually expanding their spots, and are occasionally joined by others. And, in closing, I’ve written to our “council member” about this several times and have never gotten a response, so keep following it and writing it up –maybe she’ll wake up if you do!
Define ‘continually expanding’
I have made several attempts at trying to bring attention to the encampments. First directly to the Astor. “Not responsible”! They said the stores are a different entity owned by a different group from the Astor Residencies. Next 311, phone complaint and then an on line complaint. There is a special police unit assigned for encampments. They came , they offered services both men said thank you but no thank you. Case closed. Next Assemblywoman Rosenthal. Since we were in a code blue they acted very quickly. But now they are back along with their debris, food and rats. One has a cat. Everyone is afraid to confront them. No one wants to deal with an obvious mental health issue. Why should they control the street by saying no to everything that’s offered to them. It’s my street too! And I want it back!
The services that are offered are not helpful to my goals, objectives, or well being, if you were offered these ‘services’ you would reject them too
Rather self serving of you to label my micro mobile home and survival gear as ‘debris’ isn’t it?
My cat actively hunts all rats within sight which is much less expensive and more humane than pest control poisons that are designed more for recurring revenue streams than effectiveness
Not everyone is afraid to confront me and you should really do some serious self examination about why you think I need to be confronted and why you are afraid to do so yourself
You claim I have an obvious mental health issue, on what basis do you make that claim and what evidence do you present to support your claim?
It’s humorous that you think I control the street, if you spent some more time out here with me you’d realize that there are some much worse actors that I’m managing and deterring on behalf of the neighborhood
I certainly don’t say no to everything that is offered to me and you would already know this if you had offered me anything even as insignificant as a dirty penny
those rats eat poison from the traps on the street. not sure the kitty should be hunting them?
This! Also, one of the unhoused individuals was regularly having sex with their partner on the street a few months ago (although the partner no longer seems to be with him) and blatantly shooting up drugs in front of families walking by with kids. This specific encampment has been removed numerous times and he just shows back up – at one point he even had a couch. I have called 311, put in requests and they just go unanswered – Department of Homeless Services will show up and when they refuse help, they just leave. The other unhoused individual recently has had some chalk writings that are very offensive relating to abortion (I get free speech so I haven’t made a thing about it). A child’s chalk drawing on the street is very different than what these words say.
Confused why even a greedy landlord would do this. I get that its expensive to put up and take down scaffolding, but aren’t they losing even more money by having their retail spaces empty? Isn’t it in the owners financial best interest to have those spaces rented out instead of sitting empty?
The “greedy landlord” is the greatest urban myth of NY, thrown-about by people who usually don’t have exposure to the utter madness of FISP/Local Law 11 or the challenges renting out commercial units in a good-day (no less with a long-term sidewalk shed like this).
In this case, it sounds like the Astor is experiencing an awful condo conversion. Having a building extension take so many years after apartments are sold, plus the reported boiler outage and all the FISP work done after sales begin speaks to a conversion that is poorly-funded and poorly-planned.
What is the law on semi-permanent encampments on a major business and access street? Can “squatters” be provided housing in an SRO or other city authorized accommodation?
An encampment is defined by the erection of a “structure”
A structure is loosely and arbitrarily defined as a tent, tarp, or perhaps an excessively large cardboard shack
The main concern is actually ensuring that child, sex, or drug trafficking is not occurring and there are plenty of ways for police and others to detect this without limiting a person’s ability to protect themselves from severe weather or random assault
Yoga mats, sleeping bags, and umbrellas do not count as ‘structure’ and therefore not as an encampment especially if umbrellas are only deployed during severe weather events or high crime likelihood time windows
Just because many people incorrectly report ‘encampments’ does not mean that encampments exist
The term ‘squatting’ is only reasonably used in regards to private property and especially indoor spaces
If you really want to help anyone minimize the amount of space that they use while sleeping or living in public then focus on reducing noise in the area, improving nutrition and clothing, and encouraging the use of bivouacs or other efficient minimalist protection from weather and assault
If you invest in the people who live near you properly they can become a security asset to the neighborhood and take up space that would otherwise be filled by random and malevolent actors
Displacing, coercing, or forcibly moving all of the ‘dysfunctional’ or ‘unwanted’ people to the least expensive housing project area often centralizes and compounds addictive and criminal behavior which then inevitably creates more recidivism, institutionalization, learned helplessness, government dependency, malignant disability and other problems which then escape the area and plague everywhere else all over again
The focus must be on patient centered compassionate care which leads to healing damaged brains as well as possible
If you can succeed at healing a person’s brain they will be much more able to solve their own problems without intensive or expensive assistance
Soup kitchens are basically the most effective way to consistently nourish and heal the people who have addiction and brain damage issues
Psychotropics and their corresponding pharmaceutical industrial complex have very little incentive or profit motive to heal brains they tend to merely sell medication and perpetuate revenue streams indefinitely
Those condos were a great investment
Better a shed than hit on the head.