NYC demolishes Manhattan Bridge hobo's makeshift SRO

2022-07-23 07:58:39 By : Ms. Candy lee

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The Manhattan Bridge hobo officially got the boot from his tiny but impressive abode Tuesday — with the city reportedly needing an electrician to cut the power source he rigged up to the hut before workers could dismantle it.

The street denizen who was living rent free among the city’s most amazing river views, did not appear to be around when his makeshift shack off to the side of the historic span’s bike path was destroyed and the splintered pieces carted off, said local fruit vendor Mohammed Ali.

“Around noon, a sanitation truck pulled up, you know, a garbage truck, and three sanitation guys got out, and two police cars pulled up,’’ said Ali, 32, of Queens, who was peddling fruit at nearby Forsyth Street in Manhattan at the time.

“The sanitation guys started quickly. They broke the whole thing up real quick, and they just brought it all down and [were] throwing [it into] the back of the truck, and everybody left,’’ Ali said.

The structure was so solidly entrenched in its illicit spot that city workers had to use sledgehammers to knock it down — and a Department of Transportation employee also had to clamber onto a section of the bridge at one point to get better traction to yank the roof off.

The DOT had to call in an electrician, too, because the shack was apparently siphoning off power from an electrical box on the bridge and the wires had to be safely cut before the hut could be completely brought down, amNewYork reported.

Leftover wires dangled from a metal box on the bridge after the hovel was taken away, while a bike lock and two plastic retractable blades were the only things remaining in the spot where the shack had been.

The vagrant’s 16-square-food structure consisted of plywood and cardboard and provided him with sleeping and kitchen areas — not to mention rent-free million-dollar water views, according to exclusive Post photos Monday.

The shack had a “sink’’ area where the homeless man stored staples such as Jiffy peanut butter, sardines, Coke and orange juice.

The vagrant, a Chinese man appearing to be in his 50s or 60s, even decorated the space, including with colorful ABC posters and a mirror.

He crawled in and out of the illegal hovel through a small plywood door he secured with the bike lock.

The hobo had identified himself as Zou Yifan to The Post and said he became homeless after his apartment rent was jacked up.

Ali praised the dismantling of the shack.

“The city needs to do this,’’ the vendor insisted. “These guys are unpredictable. Sometimes, they mind their own business, but sometimes they go coo-coo.

He said that a few months ago, “There was a whole group of guys up there screaming and drinking.

“They don’t bother me, but they scare a lot of people,’’ he said.

He said Yifan “used to live here next to me down here.

“But he moved up there when all the other homeless guys showed up [where Ali is}. Now there is a guy living in his old spot” near the vendor.