The city’s hypocritical, flagrant disregard for Mayor Eric Adams’ “Get Sheds Down” campaign is at its most infuriating at 520 First Avenue — the house of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
In addition to performing a whole bunch of autopsies every week, the six-story facility on the corner of East thirtieth St. is where the stays of each NYPD officer or FDNY firefighter killed in the road of duty is taken.
The fallen heroes are escorted by their colleagues as they leave the ability beneath a dark, depressing set of sheds that form sidewalk tunnels along First Ave. and on East thirtieth St.
Their continued standing is inexplicable.
Department of Buildings filings show various permits for the sheds dating back to a minimum of 2009 but none for any actual work on the constructing facade.
Although the OCME website falsely describes the property as a part of the adjoining NYU Langone medical campus, the constructing at 520 First Ave. is entirely owned by the town.
NYU Langone staff who didn’t want to be named said they’ve never seen any work being done on the OCME constructing.
One hospital executive said the shed is “really only a shelter for people from a close-by homeless shelter who use it as their outdoor lavatory.”
Another said, “It’s outrageous that the country’s pre-eminent medical expert’s facility is surrounded by steel pipes, picket overhangs and rat traps.”
An email to OCME searching for an evidence 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 allow them to stand indefinitely without performing any facade repairs required under Local Law 11.
But the town is the biggest violator of all.
As The Post’s Howard Husock revealed, NYCHA buildings alone have 26 miles of sheds around them.
We reported last week that city-owned office constructing 2 Lafayette St. has also been surrounded on all 4 sides for years with no work being done.
