"There are exemptions for small businesses, and clearly an informal system has evolved. Wilson and I visited bodegas and other small businesses on the Lower East Side one morning and found no owner or employee who claimed to know when or how the ramps arrived, as if they had been there forever, like Manhattan schist. 'Tactical urbanism' is the term of art."
Wilson = Tom Wilson, "the earth science teacher who was also the unit photographer for his brother’s HBO series, 'How To With John Wilson.'"
Since I am (I think) the world's biggest fan of "How To With John Wilson," I'm going to mute my criticism of this DIY mess and go with the Wilsonesque flow: