Dating back to the days when horses filled the streets of the city, boot scrapers were a common tool used to clean off the bottoms of one's shoes before entering a house. There are many remaining in NYC, but it's rare to find one out here in Greenpoint.
About 10,000 of them, according to the guy who seemed like he was in charge. This is a pallet repair business — they take damaged pallets, replace the broken planks, and then resell them.
Aha! It's part of the MillionTreesNYC program. The flip side of the tag has care instructions on it. The trees in the background are also part of this program, and are also Canada red chokecherries.
Just after it rises out of the cut, where it is depressed below a few street and railroad crossings. Very unusual for a surface street!
