On Zohran Mamdani‘s 100th day in office as mayor of New York City, his office released a video in collaboration with documentarian John Wilson about new policies designed to reduce the amount of scaffolding in the city.
The video was shot in the style of HBO’s “How To With John Wilson” and designed as an homage to Wilson’s work, featuring clips of scaffolding throughout the city and interviews with various New Yorkers, some humorous and some more serious. At the end of the video, Wilson conducts and films his own interview with Mamdani.
“I have never thought about scaffolding,” one city resident says at the start of the video. “I know that sometimes it’s magically here, then it magically goes away. You complain about it in between.” The same man later says, “I really haven’t given myself the luxury of imagining a world without scaffolding, but wow, what a lovely world that would be.”
“This scaffolding’s been here about a year. We miss the light. Certainly, scaffolding is never good for a retail store,” says one local business owner. “You almost accept the status quo, as bad as that is.” Later in the video, grinning, he adds: “The only good news is when it rains, I have coverage to smoke my cigar. But aside from that, there’s nothing good about the scaffolding in the city.
In voiceover, Mamdani explains that while scaffolding is meant to serve as temporary protection for pedestrians navigating construction throughout the city, some scaffolding has been up for more than 15 years, becoming a claustrophobic eyesore and impacting walkability.
Mamdani outlines a new set of policies meant to reduce scaffolding. Because intensive building inspections require the installation of scaffolding, New York City will be increasing the amount of time allowed in between building inspections from five years to six. Buildings that are 40 years old or newer will instead be allowed to rely on visual inspections every three years and wait 12 years before intensive inspections. Additionally, fines will be levied for units of scaffolding that stay up for two years “past their welcome,” and the city is imposing a 40-foot maximum on how far scaffolding can extend into the sidewalk and street.
“There are a lot of parts of life in our city that we have just come to accept as if it’s the cost of being a New Yorker, of living in New York City, when in fact, these are political decisions,” Mamdani says to Wilson at the end of the video. “They’re political choices, and we can make different ones. Because a lot of this has no impact on safety. It’s just a blight on our city.” The mayor then turns around, looks up and says, “Sorry, man.”
“Are you saying sorry to the scaffolding?” Wilson asks. “I’m saying sorry to the scaffolding,” Mamdani says, laughing.
See the video below.
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