The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF FEBRUARY
ART OF FOOD 8-14 att
2018
Presented by PG. 11
THE SINGSONG OF THE SIREN NOISE The jarring wail of the Mount Sinai ambulance fleet has been unplugged as hospital execs introduce the “HiLow,” with kinder, gentler, Europeanstyle rhythms BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
Legislation before the City Council would require sidewalk sheds to be dismantled within six months of being erected — or in seven days if no work has been performed in that time. This scaffolding at Second Avenue and 92nd Street has cast shadows at that corner for years. Photo: Douglas Feiden
THE CURSE OF MANHATTAN BUILDINGS A new campaign is launched to rein in the reviled, if omnipresent, sidewalk shed — and curb the crime, clutter and congestion it brings to the urban landscape BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
They rob the city of sunlight and oxygen. They strip the avenues of their view corridors and the streetscape of its continuity. They undermine the street-grid system and engulf the treasured space of the sidewalk. If that’s what they take away, what do they add? In a word, blight. They attract vermin and invite litter. They provide a secluded den for drug deal-
ers and an impromptu bedroom and bathroom for the homeless. Not only that, they create an obstacle course and an urban wind tunnel that impedes foot traffic, heightens congestion — and poses a physical barricade to shops and businesses that often drives away customers. The scourge in question is the street scaffold, also known as the sidewalk shed. Billed as a “temporary” protective structure, it has morphed instead into a permanent feature of the city’s architecture. Now, a bill has been reintroduced in the City Council that would, for the first time, mandate the removal of a giant chunk of the scaffolds that front 7,750 buildings and envelop more than 275 miles of city sidewalk.
Simon and Garfunkel told us about “The Sounds of Silence.” Now, Mount Sinai wants to talk to us again — about the sounds of sirens. For years, the hospital system fielded complaints about the unpleasant blaring of its ambulances and their unfortunate role in abetting urban noise pollution. How awful were the sounds? Even the executive responsible for Mount Sinai Health System’s fleet of 24 ambulances calls them “horrible” and “offensive.” “Our neighbors and pedestrians hated the jarring sounds and the shrieking of the sirens,” said Joseph J. Davis, the director of Emergency Medical Services at the hospital complex. “It was wailing, it had a quick pitch, and it was very penetrating,” he added. “It’s not just that it was loud. It was piercing. It was ringing in your ears. It was horrible!” Mount Sinai says it took those complaints to heart. Last September, it devised a far more melodious offering with a lower pitch that has been playing to mostly favorable reviews since it was introduced on October 13th and then phased in over the next several weeks. Out went the “Wail,” the “Yelp” and the “Piercer.” Yes, those were the actual names for the default settings on the three-position selector switch that Sinai had long used to choose the tone emitted by its sirens, Davis said.
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“It’s not just that it was loud. It was piercing. It was ringing in your ears. It was horrible!” Joseph J. Davis, director of Emergency Medical Services at Mount Sinai Health System
Joseph J. Davis, the director of emergency medical services for the Mount Sinai hospital system, stands in front of one of the two dozen ambulances he oversees in a recent photo at Mount Sinai West on West 59th Street. Photo: Mount Sinai Health System Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, February 9 – 5:06 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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