De Blasio targets Church Ave for cleanup

BrooklynAve

Not sure what the extents are yet, hopefully through Flatbush and East Flatbush, but any cleaning up is welcome in my opinion!

http://ditmasparkcorner.com/blog/news/church-avenue-targeted-in-mayors-new-clean-streets-campaign/

pragmaticguy

It's all well and good that the mayor wants the sanitation department to clean up after the slobs who throw garbage on the ground, don't pick up after their mutts and things like that but the root cause of the problem needs to be changed so why don't we have more sanitation police issuing tickets for littering. They have no problem going after the store owners who don't sweep up twice a day.

doublen00b

That's great, I think everyone should have clean streets, they put in a group of cleaners down by the junction and it seems to make a big difference in the appearance of the neighborhood. Very glad.

brickstoner

I wish the mayor would take up the 'dirty New York' issue.  It's an embarrassment to the city when international travelers come, shocked at how dirty this wealthy city is.  

I agree with @pragmaticguy, though, that a huge part is discipline.  In my neighborhood in east bed stuy, some of the local population leave their dog poop on the sidewalk, and they throw food wrappers and plastic bags on the street with no guilt or concern.  I think it's mostly teenagers walking their dogs, or coming home from school.  I'm really hoping gentrification helps this out - because people moving into the neighborhoods care more about some of these dismissed  '1st world problems' like clean streets, and maybe are more apt to raise a stink about it (pun intended).  But that might be wishful thinking on my part. 

Other people's garbage is left for me (a homeowner) to clean up.   It's fun when it blows through my gates and against my house, and bags get stuck in the bushes in front.   

Issuing fines and summonses for litter would be great,  but I don't see that happening under this mayor's term.  I think we're heading more in the direction of decriminalizing 'public nuisances' in fact.

whynot_31

In addition to littering less, I suspect wealthier areas also hire private contractors to clean up the litter.

...few things encourage people to litter more than existing litter.

mugofmead111

@brickstoner - I'd love to see more enforcement of the pooper scooper law to be honest. Yet, I fear it's a pipe dream.

brickstoner

@mugofmead111  Amen.  

I ended up developing a finely tuned 'radar' whereby my feet automatically twist around dog 'gifts' as I walk around my neighborhood.  Sometimes milliseconds before. 

Was looking into 'deterrent' products on Amazon, a spray or powder in front of my place so dogs choose not to do their business there.  I'm not sure how well those work but I'll soon find out.

RudolfAhrens

How do large apartment buildings in say, the Upper West Side, handle trash collection?

Here in Flatbush, which is blessed with many large pre-war apartment buildings, the rule seems to be to leave a huge pile of black garbage bags on the sidewalk, piled as high as a tree. I can't imagine this happens on East 85th st or Prospect Park West. 

This is another one of those many minor things that contributes to the overall atmosphere and mood of the neighborhood. Is it easy to fix? I don't know. But perhaps now that these buildings are getting over $2000 a month for apartments they will address this. 

pragmaticguy

Many of those building have incinerators so much of the garbage is not collected. But as for other garbage, I'm sure there's an area, probably where the freight/delivery door is where it's stored. Hell, do people on East 85th St even take out their own garbage???

whynot_31

NYC buildings can't incinerate their garbage anymore.

http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/1293/burning-garbage

To avoid unsightly garbage bags outside of the building for several hours, the luxury buildings are staffed at the level the they can put it out right before the trucks come.

...whereas in Flatbush, one lowly super might have to begin putting it out the night before because it is just him doing the labor. 

pragmaticguy

That's news to me, my wife's son lives in a building in Sunnyside and they have an incinerator so maybe it's not used. Also, the link you posted only states it's against the law to burn garbage outdoors. I didn't see anything about incinerators.

suppleknuckles

this news is a blessing. i really, really hope it pans out. and they better be covering the area near the B/Q and the 2/5 subway stops because those seem to be the filthiest. 

mugofmead111

RudolfAhrens said:

How do large apartment buildings in say, the Upper West Side, handle trash collection?

Here in Flatbush, which is blessed with many large pre-war apartment buildings, the rule seems to be to leave a huge pile of black garbage bags on the sidewalk, piled as high as a tree. I can't imagine this happens on East 85th st or Prospect Park West. 

This is another one of those many minor things that contributes to the overall atmosphere and mood of the neighborhood. Is it easy to fix? I don't know. But perhaps now that these buildings are getting over $2000 a month for apartments they will address this. 

I live in an large apartment complex. The building staff will bring out trash from the cute in large black plastic bags. The bags get carted to a special trash holding pen, which occupies part of the outdoor garage. That is where DSNY does the trash pick up.

I don't know whether actual incineration takes place anymore in the trash cute.

RudolfAhrens

OK now that I've heard from you, I've noticed that most of the buildings do have these pens, but nevertheless they empty them out the night before trash pickup, moving bags from the pens to the street. Maybe sanitation doesn't go into trash holding pens in Flatbush.