The city’s hypocritical, flagrant disregard for Mayor Eric Adams’ “Get Sheds Down” campaign is at its most infuriating at 520 First Avenue — the home of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
In addition to performing hundreds of autopsies every week, the six-story facility at the corner of East 30th St. is where the remains of every NYPD officer or FDNY firefighter killed in the line of duty is taken.
The fallen heroes are escorted by their colleagues as they leave the facility beneath a dark, depressing set of sheds that form sidewalk tunnels along First Ave. and on East 30th St.
Their continued standing is inexplicable.
Department of Buildings filings show various permits for the sheds dating back to at least 2009 but none for any actual work on the building facade.
Although the OCME website falsely describes the property as part of the adjacent NYU Langone medical campus, the building at 520 First Ave. is entirely owned by the city.
NYU Langone staff who didn’t wish to be named said they’ve never seen any work being done on the OCME building.
One hospital executive said the shed is “really just a shelter for people from a nearby homeless shelter who use it as their outdoor lavatory.”
Another said, “It’s outrageous that the country’s pre-eminent medical examiner’s facility is surrounded by steel pipes, wooden overhangs and rat traps.”
An email to OCME seeking an explanation for the seemingly immortal sheds was not returned.
Adams recently announced a campaign to crack down on owners of buildings who put up sidewalk sheds and let them stand indefinitely without performing any facade repairs required under Local Law 11.
But the city is the largest violator of all.
As noti.group’s Howard Husock revealed, NYCHA buildings alone have 26 miles of sheds around them.
We reported last week that city-owned office building 2 Lafayette St. has also been surrounded on all four sides for years with no work being done.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
