Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Holds Public Hearing for Intros. 391-A, 393-A, 394-A, 660-A, and 661-A

April 8, 2025

Watch video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27qZHLWhvnM

Mayor Eric Adams: Today, I am holding a hearing on five bills that help bring down sheds and scaffoldings across our city and reclaim public spaces. That's something that's important for New Yorkers to just see the sunlight, and those sheds have been up for quite some time. They were created to protect New Yorkers from unsafe buildings and construction sites, but we have allowed too many to languish for years or even decades, crowding our sidewalks and darkening our streets.  

I hear people often state that the shed has been up as long as they can remember and they grew up not believing that the sheds would ever come down. Well, our goal is to Get Sheds Down. They're bad for public safety, they're bad for small businesses, and it's time to get them down, and that is our focus. New York City sidewalks must be safe for New Yorkers who use them, and they need to look as good as the people who walk on them.  

When long-standing sheds come down, New Yorkers see a big difference, safer buildings, more light and space, less crime, less mess, and more foot traffic for our small businesses. It's a real economic impact when the sheds are up. That's why we implemented our Get Sheds Down initiative to remove long-standing sidewalk sheds on public and private property and support redesigned projects to create better designs.  

And thanks to this effort, we've already removed hundreds of scaffolding sheds across the city. Today, we continue to tear down sheds with these five bills. Intro. 393-A increases oversight over sidewalk shed permits and creates new monthly penalties to compel owners to start repairs. We have to get the repairs done on our buildings.  

Intro. 391-A empowers the Department of Buildings to implement new shed designs, creating new color options, and reduce the size of sheds for certain taller buildings. And Intro. 394-A empowers the Department of Buildings to make changes to outside building inspection requirements for taller buildings. And Intro. 660-A requires LED lighting underneath sidewalk sheds to improve visibility and safety for pedestrians walking underneath.  

And finally, Intro. 661-A creates new penalties for taller buildings if they fail to meet specific façade repair milestones. Get Sheds Down has a whole of government effort and a whole of government approach, and we want to ensure that we continue to move in the right direction.  

This is under extraordinary leadership from the entire team, including Commissioner Jimmy Oddo. I also want to thank Councilmember Bottcher, Councilmember Powers, Councilwoman Sanchez, who's the chair of housing, and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.  

Now I invite the public to comment. Any public comment? Okay, not seeing any. I want to thank all for attending, and I will sign the bills at a later date. Thank you very much. 

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