Businesses along Broadway near Astor Place and on the Bowery were among those putting up the plywood in the days before the election. Both corriders were vandalalized and looted in late May and early June at the beginning of the protests. (Here and here.)
Here's a plywood report from early last evening ... in many cases, the businesses were open...
... and on the Bowery...
... and along East Houston between Avenue A and Avenue B... where the vacant storefronts at 250 E. Houston St. got the plywood treatment...
... Steven shared these photos from Second Avenue at Ninth Street ... as landlords have boarded up two empty spaces... the former Starbucks and Otto's Tacos... this corridor was also hard hit in late May...
Updated 10 a.m.
Dave on 7th shared this from 14th Street and Avenue A...
H/T Lola Sáenz and Eden!
18 comments:
It is scary and sad to see businesses boarded up like this again.
the sound of the drills, attaching plywood, will be forever cemented in my memory, triggering sadness.
Yea this is the way I want to live -
excellent graffiti opportunity
The old school Polish butcher shop right next to Otto's Tacos is safe with its metal gates. When you don't care about appearances or aesthetics like many ethnic or working class businesses reminiscent of pre-gentrified NYC, this is what you get. Hipster and upper class themes become vulnerable in times such as this.
Enforce the law. Arrest looters.
That's nothing to do with hipster anything, our rulers banned new metal gates about a decade back
As if people in New York are going to demonstrate and riot if Joe Biden wins. This means all these stores think that Trump is going to try to declare victory and steal the election. Nice democracy you have there, it’d be a shame if something happened to it.
@10:37am: You are 100% WRONG about that. Please take the time to inform yourself on this topic before you comment on it.
@1:05 really?
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/ban-on-solid-rolldown-gates-takes-effect/1869901/
"The metal roll-down gate on storefronts, part of New York City's landscape for decades, will be officially phased out starting Friday, when a law takes effect that requires new gates to be partially transparent.
All businesses will ultimately have to replace their current opaque gates, but have until July 1, 2026 to do so.
The City Council voted in 2009 to ban the solid gates as a quality of life measure."
@2:29pm: Yes, really! You need to READ what that citation you provided actually says.
@10:37am wrote "our rulers banned new metal gates about a decade back." That statement is not true. In fact, there is NOTHING in the current rules that bans metal gates whatsoever.
The new rules require that new metal gates installed after a certain date cannot be "solid" or "opaque" - meaning they cannot completely obscure the view into the premises.
If you look at most of the gates on businesses today, you'll see that they *are* certainly made of metal AND that they have spaces between the bars or panels so you can see inside of a space - which helps the business owner, b/c if someone can see criminal activity taking place inside, then 911 can be called.
I think we can all agree that the original commenters on the metal gate and gentrification issue were both well intention and only partially correct. I would come down on the side of the banning of solid metal gates to be a sign of overall gentrification as the ban was meant to implode graffiti. So let’s prove to America that we can all agree. Businesses need gates!
We still don't know who told NYPD to stand down on May 31 and Jun 1. Had to be the Mayor, right?
NYC businesses got hosed once and they aren't going to let it happen again. Although I still think it is possible the luxury brands made a deal with the Mayor and insurers to get rid of last season's junk.
Quote from Vallone who pushed the bill:
But Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. says the new shutters are well worth the cash: "Our streets will no longer look like a graffiti strewn war zone after closing time," said the anti-graffiti politician, who has claimed that banning solid metal roll-down gates will reduce the amount of graffiti by 80 percent. "We pass many bills here at the Council but very few are like this one where we will actually see a concrete result where our city will be more beautiful and be safer."
Gates don't help with rioting and looting. Many were simply ripped off their tracks and destroyed. Many shops with metal gates got ransacked last time around. Not very long ago Grieve posted a story about an ATM theft on Ave C. The thieves ripped the gate right off and stole the ATM behind it.
Solid gates were banned in favor of link gates for one reason and one reason only. FDNY/NYPD needs to be able to see into commercial spaces in the event of a burglary, fire, or explosion. That is the only reason. Graffiti has nothing to do with it. That's just politicians trying to score points. Call City Gates. Ask them for a solid metal gate and see what they tell you when you ask why you can't have one.
All this boarding up is a vote of “no confidence” in the NYPD, which failed to respond to the looting and destruction last time.
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