Latest news with #SanitationDepartment
New York Times
13 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
Trash Containerization Comes to Harlem
Good morning. It's Tuesday. Today we'll look at the start of a pilot program to put trash in bins. It's part of an effort to rid New York City sidewalks of a notorious scene: rat-infested mounds of smelly, black garbage bags. City officials are calling it a 'trash revolution.' A pilot program in the West Harlem neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights is providing residents with large, blocky, lock-tight garbage containers in an attempt to rid the sidewalks of messy, oozing garbage bags. The plan calls for residential buildings with 31 units or more to use oversize bins that can hold 800 gallons of trash, and for buildings with fewer than 10 units to use smaller 'wheelie bins.' Buildings with 10 to 30 units can choose between the two options. Food waste must be placed in designated brown bins or other sealed containers, in line with the city's new composting rules, while recycling, which attracts fewer rats, can still go in clear bags. One casualty of the container pilot is parking. One bin is the size of about half a car and takes the place of roughly 28 garbage bags, according to a spokesman for the Sanitation Department. The rows of oversize bins — some 1,000 of them in the pilot program — have taken up hundreds of parking spots. Double-parking in front of the bins can cause problems, too, since 16 new side-loading garbage trucks are supposed to scoot up to them three times a week to empty their contents. Expanding the program citywide would require the removal of more than 50,000 parking spots, city officials said. There is also the expense: Buying enough bins and trucks could cost hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Adams losing ‘war on rats' as NYC Council rips budget cuts delaying cleanup of 1,700 trash-strewn lots
Mayor Eric Adams is losing his 'war on rats' — in large part because his administration refuses to fully fund a Sanitation Department unit dealing with a backlog of more than 1,700 garbage-strewn lots that need to be cleaned, a majority of City Council members said this week. Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola (R-Queens) fired off a bipartisan letter last week to the mayor signed by 30 council members demanding the city pump another $2.6 million yearly into agency's Lot Cleaning Unit back to pre-pandemic levels of 108 employees in 2019. The unit has since shrunk to 10 workers assigned to clean city-owned lots and vacant lots in the five boroughs. 'These [lots] are not only unsightly and unsafe, but they are also infested with rats and other vermin that spread disease,' Ariola wrote. 'Considering the resources your administration has poured into its 'War on Rats,' we expected that tackling these filthy areas in every borough would be a priority.' Adams' proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 includes $820,277 for lot cleaning, increases the unit's staff to 15 and it's funding to $1.6 million by fiscal 2029. That's not enough, said council members who have been forced to use their discretionary funds to supplement nonprofits and city sanitation workers cleaning filthy weed-strewn lots and traffic medians. 'Having a severely deficient lot cleaning program only undermines other efforts by DSNY and your administration to 'Get Stuff Clean,'' wrote Ariola, referring to the mayor's campaign to cleanup city streets. 'It also sends a hypocritical message to New Yorkers that, while residents are required to comply with the rules, to containerize their garbage and clean their own properties or else face fines and penalties, their own city government has no such responsibility. 'We once again ask that you provide DSNY the funding they need to rectify this problem.' The backlog of vacant lots desperately needing a cleaning include one on Chandler Street near Motts Basin in Far Rockaway, Queens, and another disaster at 75 Baltimore Street in Great Kills, Staten Island, according to council members. Both are garbage-filled, weed-strewn eyesores that have become neighborhood dumping grounds covered with abandoned shopping carts, mattresses, furniture and other debris. Rodent complaints to 311 spiked nearly 8% during Adams first two years in office — despite his ballyhooed multi-million dollar war on rats and vow from Day One to make headway against the vermin, The Post has reported. Updated statistics were not immediately available. Sanitation Department spokesman Joshua Goodman insisted Mayor Adams proposed budget for next fiscal year 'makes greater investments in a cleaner city than ever before.' 'The increased funding for cleaning vacant lots allows us to focus on those that pose health risks, those located near schools or parks, and those receiving 311 service requests – not just in the coming year, but for years to come,' he said. 'We can always do more with more, and we look forward to working with the Council to ensure resources are allocated efficiently to areas of greatest need.'
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
NYC Council trashes Mayor Adams over Sanitation budget cuts
Mayor Eric Adams is losing his 'war on rats' — in large part because his administration refuses to fully fund a Sanitation Department unit dealing with a backlog of more than 1,700 garbage-strewn lots that need to be cleaned, a majority of City Council members said this week. Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola (R-Queens) fired off a bipartisan letter last week to the mayor signed by 30 council members demanding the city pump another $2.6 million yearly into agency's Lot Cleaning Unit back to pre-pandemic levels of 108 employees in 2019. The unit has since shrunk to 10 workers assigned to clean city-owned lots and vacant lots in the five boroughs. Advertisement 4 This debris-filled vacant lot on Baltimore Street on Staten Island is one more than 1,700 such abandoned or city-owned lots on a waiting list for the Sanitation Department of clean, according to the City Council. Obtained by the New York Post 'These [lots] are not only unsightly and unsafe, but they are also infested with rats and other vermin that spread disease,' Ariola wrote. 'Considering the resources your administration has poured into its 'War on Rats,' we expected that tackling these filthy areas in every borough would be a priority.' Advertisement Adams' proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 includes $820,277 for lot cleaning, increases the unit's staff to 15 and it's funding to $1.6 million by fiscal 2029. 4 Twenty-nine City Council members signed off a letter demanding Mayor Eric Adams pour another $2.6 million yearly into cleaning up vacant lots. Luiz Rampelotto/ZUMA / That's not enough, said council members who have been forced to use their discretionary funds to supplement nonprofits and city sanitation workers cleaning filthy weed-strewn lots and traffic medians. 4 Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola (R-Queens) suggested in the letter that Adams is losing his 'war on rats' – in large part because his administration refuses to properly fund the Sanitation Department. Michael Nagle Advertisement 'Having a severely deficient lot cleaning program only undermines other efforts by DSNY and your administration to 'Get Stuff Clean,'' wrote Ariola, referring to the mayor's campaign to cleanup city streets. 'It also sends a hypocritical message to New Yorkers that, while residents are required to comply with the rules, to containerize their garbage and clean their own properties or else face fines and penalties, their own city government has no such responsibility. 'We once again ask that you provide DSNY the funding they need to rectify this problem.' 4 A debris-filled vacant lot on Chandler Street in Far Rockaway. Obtained by the New York Post Advertisement The backlog of vacant lots desperately needing a cleaning include one on Chandler Street near Motts Basin in Far Rockaway, Queens, and another disaster at 75 Baltimore Street in Great Kills, Staten Island, according to council members. Both are garbage-filled, weed-strewn eyesores that have become neighborhood dumping grounds covered with abandoned shopping carts, mattresses, furniture and other debris. Rodent complaints to 311 spiked nearly 8% during Adams first two years in office — despite his ballyhooed multi-million dollar war on rats and vow from Day One to make headway against the vermin, The Post has reported. Updated statistics were not immediately available. Sanitation Department spokesman Joshua Goodman insisted Mayor Adams proposed budget for next fiscal year 'makes greater investments in a cleaner city than ever before.' 'The increased funding for cleaning vacant lots allows us to focus on those that pose health risks, those located near schools or parks, and those receiving 311 service requests – not just in the coming year, but for years to come,' he said. 'We can always do more with more, and we look forward to working with the Council to ensure resources are allocated efficiently to areas of greatest need.'
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Yahoo
Public Services prepares for the Spring Folly
Every year, over 30,000 people descend on Kernersville for the three days of Spring Folly, Kernersville's largest festival, but that only follows days of work by town crews to try to the visitors have a pleasant experience. About a month before the Spring Folly, workers with various town divisions begin to do beautification projects such as landscaping and maintaining public spaces, Streets Division Supervisor Edgar Colon said. 'It goes with our image. We're a small town that's very neat and organized,' Colop said. Spring Folly gives Kernersville an opportunity to showcase the town and visitors might be drawn in by the town's overall impression, Public Services Supervisor Mike Tester said. 'If they're visiting and riding through, they might like what they see and stay,' he said. Crews from Public Services work in tandem to eliminate safety hazards and spruce up downtown Kernersville, Public Services Dupervisor Joshua Levins said. 'We go around downtown, and we'll grind out the concrete to get rid of trip hazards on the sidewalk and we'll reset any bricks that are loose. We also have crews putting out mulch,' Levins said. Levins emphasized the importance of public safety during Spring Folly. 'We're putting up signs and barricades for the road closures. The Kernersville Police Department will have their cars there and the Sanitation Department will have their trucks there making sure no vehicles can get in, keeping it safe for everybody,' Levins said.
New York Post
01-05-2025
- General
- New York Post
NYC scrapped composting fines, but what happened next broke records anyway
Here's the dirt on the Big Apple's new composting effort. The city broke its composting record for the third week in a row — even after officials scrapped fines for its new mandate, The Post has learned. New Yorkers recycled a jaw-dropping 5.24 million pounds of food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard waste in the fourth week of the new program, even though they are no longer slapped with tickets if they toss compostable materials in the trash. Advertisement That's 2,620 tons of trash — equal in weight to 216 Rockefeller Christmas trees. The Big Apple composted a record-breaking 5.24 million pounds of trash in the program's fourth week. The stunning total marks a third consecutive week of record-breaking collections since penalties went into effect and were quickly scaled back. Advertisement A Sanitation Department spokesperson said in a statement that the program is reaching new heights because 'it's simple and easy to use and understand.' 'New Yorkers want to compost – they just want it to be straightforward,' said Joshua Goodman, deputy commissioner of public affairs. 'No more sign-ups, special rules, different days… just a free, weekly, regular service like anything else.' The 5.24 million pounds of recycled trash is more than a 500% increase from what New York was recycling this time last year, according to the agency. The new record is equal in weight to 216 Rockefeller Christmas Trees. Christopher Sadowski Advertisement The figure shattered the city's new record for composting, which had just been set the week before at 4.5 million pounds — when composting fines were still in effect for every resident in the five boroughs. The mandatory program enjoyed less than three full weeks before City Hall stepped in and threw violation fines in the incinerator, caving to widespread anger and confusion over the original guidelines. Under the new rules, only buildings with more than 30 units can be fined for refusing to compost. Even then, the fines are capped at $100. Previously, all New Yorkers could be charged for tossing compost in the landfill, with the punishments increasing in value for each subsequent violation. Advertisement Nearly 2,000 citations were handed out that first week, and the initial record-breaking compost pile came the following week — setting the standard at 3.8 million pounds, or eight and a half Statues of Liberty. The program is so successful that the city is opening a third compost giveaway site in Queens, which returns 40 pounds of garden-grade compost back to New Yorkers for free.
