For the better part of 22 years, scaffolding had entombed the sidewalk in front of 26 Ninth Street, forming a dirty tunnel of darkness on an otherwise pristine block. Yesterday, that finally changed:
Early on in the pandemic, local residents organized to finally have it removed, forming a neighborhood group that leafed the block with a simple demand: “Take It Down, George!” . But even as violations piled up, the structure remained in place.
Brittney Weber, a longtime pet sitter in the neighborhood, stood nearby with her seven dogs, marveling at the scaffolding's absence. “I never remember a time when it wasn’t here,” she said. “I genuinely feel a lot better.” But the fact that some sheds go up and do not come down for years on end is a reflection of the city’s oversight failure, according to Nina Kaufelt, the co-founder of Take it Down, George! And while it shouldn’t fall on neighborhood activists to fight absentee landlords, the shed’s end was cause for celebration, she said.
“It feels like a great amount of clutter has been cleared: The wind, the sun, and not to be too woo-woo, but the energy is all flowing down the block,” she said. “Sometimes even in Gotham, the little guys win.”