April 9, 2025 • 5 mins
Mendte in the Morning sent Natalie Migliore out on the street to talk to the people of NYC about the scaffolding that is up all around the city and how they feel it affects the views.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now it's sevent ten Warspeed on the Street with Natalie Migliori.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
All right, seven ten war at eight fifty four. You
know those ugly green scaffolding sheds you got all over
the place there at like hot dog carts. They're everywhere,
and some buildings leave them up for years. They just leave.
That's like decoration. We eventually have to work on a window.
Let's leave it up. Well, now they're getting a little
bit of a makeover. Natalie Migliori tell us all about it.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah, good morning can not only a makeover, but New
York just wants fewer of them. The City Council made
sure that clear after passing a new legislation that would
allow more design options for the structures, add more lighting,
and limit the amount of time they can stay up.
(00:48):
And like you said, they are up for a long time.
Some of these things might be a good thing. Since
some New Yorker safe scaffolding has become a permanent fixture
in some spots.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
You get so used to it that I was trying
to think, I can't even remember a single place where
like it's been up forever and ever because you just
get used to it. M that's hard.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hard for me to say.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I really don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I can't say, oh my god, that's a great question.
As long as I can remember, there's scafolding up in
the heights that's been there for like a long time.
It's just recent got removed. But I remember, as like
a teenager, people complaining that it had still been up.
So yeah, maybe like ten years.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
The worst I've ever seen is that when they were
building the building and then they converted to condos, there
used to be a hospital on tenth Avenue here. That
was years years, like well over five years.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
The town hall that's on forty third Street, right, that's
still up over there by Brian Park. When you I
think you can stand across the street and see and
it's still it's been there for years. This is Oh,
the white one is better than the green one. But
little do you know that white scaffold had been up
for over ten years.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, and that guy's right. The city says newly designed
scaffolding can be white, metallic gray, or any other color
that matches the facade of the building. With more than
eighty five hundred sheds across the city, that's a lot
of redesigning, all in an effort to do away with
that hunter green that has become ingrained in some of
(02:11):
New York City's landscape.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
As long as people can see it for their safety,
that's all that mattered. I couldn't care less about what colors.
I don't know if it was green soil, you said
it for me, it's all that's still great.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
I've seen that white scaffolding there we're talking about. That
looks more presentable, but I guess that costs more to
design to make it look good.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I've seen nice scaffolding around sorees, the big weight, the
really really tall ones, but I can't imagine everyone can
afford that. I think the facade would matter to people
who don't live there all the time. I think for
people who live around there. So for if it's more
in residential building, no one really cares about that. People
just care about whether the or and when it's going
to be gone.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, the city wants it to be gone sooner rather
than later. The new rules would only allow scaffolding permits
to be issued for three months at a time, cutting
it down from a year. New Yorkers definitely on board.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It's important to have the scaffolding and for safety of
other people in the street of course, however, I mean
everything has their time to It also takes away from
the building and what it really looks like. If you're
trying to rent out a building, people will not want
to move there because they can't actually what it looks like.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I know somebody who got their rent lowered because it
had come into a certain time and the head of
view and then the scaffelding went up and now had
been there for so long and they got their rent lord.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, so scaffolding ruining the view not a bad for negotiations,
but really you want it up for that long? Ken
and the people of New York City say there are
just too many locations where construction isn't happening, and scaffolding
just fits.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Well, if they're not doing any construction widy out, which
is most of the time the problem.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
That's the issue.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
You don't never see anyone doing anything but just see
scaffolding up whatever. It's a hidden secret in the construction world.
More along the line, somebody's making more money. This will
be up longer than the actual work itself being done.
So to me, it seems like there's a money of
fleecing going on. That's the word I'm looking for, and
we're just like, Okay, what is the work going to
get started? And it's something of fleecing. I guarantee you
(04:16):
this is New York City.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, New York City can't pull the wool over anybody's eyes,
can they say that New York or so? I mean really,
we'll just see if these new laws really go into
effect and if they can be enforced.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Right, well, can I share with you that back in
two thousand and five, so twenty years ago, I did
this very story for Channel seven as a reporter, and
I remember then twenty years ago they talked about changing
the laws. They never did. And back then the excuse
that I got was for certain older buildings in New
York that have to be inspected every three months, et cetera.
(04:54):
It takes so long to get permission. You get your
permits to build the scaffolding, and it costs hundreds of
thousands to put up scaffolding. That to take it down
and then only put it up again a few months
later is so expensive and it takes so long, it's
not worth it. They just leave it up, right.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
They are elongating or making longer the permitting process no,
the inspection process, so between inspections, I think it's going
from like five years right now to nine years or
something for newer buildings, so maybe that will help. We'll
have to see.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Natalie will be back tomorrow morning at AY fifty. You
are just awesome. Thank you so much, Natalie Migliori.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
You bet
Now it's sevent ten Warspeed on the Street with Natalie Migliori.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
All right, seven ten war at eight fifty four. You
know those ugly green scaffolding sheds you got all over
the place there at like hot dog carts. They're everywhere,
and some buildings leave them up for years. They just leave.
That's like decoration. We eventually have to work on a window.
Let's leave it up. Well, now they're getting a little
bit of a makeover. Natalie Migliori tell us all about it.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah, good morning can not only a makeover, but New
York just wants fewer of them. The City Council made
sure that clear after passing a new legislation that would
allow more design options for the structures, add more lighting,
and limit the amount of time they can stay up.
(00:48):
And like you said, they are up for a long time.
Some of these things might be a good thing. Since
some New Yorker safe scaffolding has become a permanent fixture
in some spots.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
You get so used to it that I was trying
to think, I can't even remember a single place where
like it's been up forever and ever because you just
get used to it. M that's hard.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hard for me to say.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I really don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I can't say, oh my god, that's a great question.
As long as I can remember, there's scafolding up in
the heights that's been there for like a long time.
It's just recent got removed. But I remember, as like
a teenager, people complaining that it had still been up.
So yeah, maybe like ten years.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
The worst I've ever seen is that when they were
building the building and then they converted to condos, there
used to be a hospital on tenth Avenue here. That
was years years, like well over five years.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
The town hall that's on forty third Street, right, that's
still up over there by Brian Park. When you I
think you can stand across the street and see and
it's still it's been there for years. This is Oh,
the white one is better than the green one. But
little do you know that white scaffold had been up
for over ten years.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, and that guy's right. The city says newly designed
scaffolding can be white, metallic gray, or any other color
that matches the facade of the building. With more than
eighty five hundred sheds across the city, that's a lot
of redesigning, all in an effort to do away with
that hunter green that has become ingrained in some of
(02:11):
New York City's landscape.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
As long as people can see it for their safety,
that's all that mattered. I couldn't care less about what colors.
I don't know if it was green soil, you said
it for me, it's all that's still great.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
I've seen that white scaffolding there we're talking about. That
looks more presentable, but I guess that costs more to
design to make it look good.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I've seen nice scaffolding around sorees, the big weight, the
really really tall ones, but I can't imagine everyone can
afford that. I think the facade would matter to people
who don't live there all the time. I think for
people who live around there. So for if it's more
in residential building, no one really cares about that. People
just care about whether the or and when it's going
to be gone.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, the city wants it to be gone sooner rather
than later. The new rules would only allow scaffolding permits
to be issued for three months at a time, cutting
it down from a year. New Yorkers definitely on board.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It's important to have the scaffolding and for safety of
other people in the street of course, however, I mean
everything has their time to It also takes away from
the building and what it really looks like. If you're
trying to rent out a building, people will not want
to move there because they can't actually what it looks like.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I know somebody who got their rent lowered because it
had come into a certain time and the head of
view and then the scaffelding went up and now had
been there for so long and they got their rent lord.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, so scaffolding ruining the view not a bad for negotiations,
but really you want it up for that long? Ken
and the people of New York City say there are
just too many locations where construction isn't happening, and scaffolding
just fits.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Well, if they're not doing any construction widy out, which
is most of the time the problem.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
That's the issue.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
You don't never see anyone doing anything but just see
scaffolding up whatever. It's a hidden secret in the construction world.
More along the line, somebody's making more money. This will
be up longer than the actual work itself being done.
So to me, it seems like there's a money of
fleecing going on. That's the word I'm looking for, and
we're just like, Okay, what is the work going to
get started? And it's something of fleecing. I guarantee you
(04:16):
this is New York City.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, New York City can't pull the wool over anybody's eyes,
can they say that New York or so? I mean really,
we'll just see if these new laws really go into
effect and if they can be enforced.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Right, well, can I share with you that back in
two thousand and five, so twenty years ago, I did
this very story for Channel seven as a reporter, and
I remember then twenty years ago they talked about changing
the laws. They never did. And back then the excuse
that I got was for certain older buildings in New
York that have to be inspected every three months, et cetera.
(04:54):
It takes so long to get permission. You get your
permits to build the scaffolding, and it costs hundreds of
thousands to put up scaffolding. That to take it down
and then only put it up again a few months
later is so expensive and it takes so long, it's
not worth it. They just leave it up, right.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
They are elongating or making longer the permitting process no,
the inspection process, so between inspections, I think it's going
from like five years right now to nine years or
something for newer buildings, so maybe that will help. We'll
have to see.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Natalie will be back tomorrow morning at AY fifty. You
are just awesome. Thank you so much, Natalie Migliori.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
You bet
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