Bed-Stuy Clean-Up Recap
Halfway through the clean-up process on Saturday I realized that cleaning up your block isn’t really that hard at all. I was able to finish in about an hour and it was pretty painless. I was cleaning my block alone so I brought my iPod and listened to music, and after an hour I had one garbage bag (about three-quarters full) of potato chip bags, flattened cans and paper plates (courtesy of the nearby pizzeria). I didn’t find anything unusual in my trash other than a pair of dirty gloves. Usually you only find one glove, not two.
I want to send a heartfelt thanks out to everyone who participated in this event. How did things go for you on Saturday?
18 June 2007, 4:08 pm
Congratulations!
18 June 2007, 4:28 pm
how did you get all the cigarettes out of the cracks in the sidewalk.
18 June 2007, 6:00 pm
Thanks! There were more cigarette butts in the area close to the train station, and I wasn’t able to get all of those. I did pick up some, though. It’s much easier to get those with a broom, and I didn’t have one with me on Saturday.
18 June 2007, 6:02 pm
Sweeping is hard work; maybe the next time we should plan around the street sweeping days.
18 June 2007, 7:14 pm
Our little piece of Monroe is in pretty good shape. The only rough spots were on the Ave. sides. But over all, not a problem at all.
19 June 2007, 12:27 pm
yes sweeping is hard. you can be doing it over and over again, and you still can’t get all the glass, butts, and other stuff out of the cracks. has anyone ever tried to air blast this out, or even hose it down?
20 June 2007, 9:12 pm
I am sorry that I missed the clean up! I have just discovered this blog. I frequent Browntoner.com. Now I will have to budget my time for Bed-Stuy Blog too.
On the note of community clean up, I have special pet peeve & wanted to know others opinions.
I have had it with the amount of circulars/store advertisements, etc. that are distributed door to door by being left on the stairs of homes in little plastic bags. Last week I nearly broke an ankle while leaving my home, because I did not see it as I came down my steps. I realize that they serve some members of the community, However, the manner that they are left create a public/homeowner hazard needless to say a nuisance. I probably throw way more lbs. of this stuff in my paper recyclables than actual newspapers each week
Is there some city ordnance, etc. that can prevent this company (who ever t hey are) from doing this? How does one go about the process? The people hired to distribute them do not respond.
21 June 2007, 6:32 am
Ugh. I hate those circulars too and I always find them stuck my door and my gate, but despite my feelings, I never thought about how I could prevent them from being left around my place.
I can only think of a few things to do, and I don’t know if these are real solutions:
Posting something at your front gate/door letting the delivery people know that you are not interested in ads/circulars (maybe the guys delivering the circulars are not aware that you don’t want them)
Call 311 and file a complaint
Anyone else wanna offer a possible solution?
21 June 2007, 6:55 pm
I think the companies on the flyers should be charged for removal or fined for those things.
21 June 2007, 11:06 pm
Thanks for the responses. Yes, I could post a sign, but that is not an esthetic I wish to promote. It is right up there with a “no loitering” sign or “please don’t sit on stoop” posted on my house.
In a perfect world I just want to end the ability for these items to be left. I truly believe that they create more litter than they actually do good. But from a more realistic point of view (since I know that this is about “making money”) my real goal is to have the vendor exercise some responsibility in distributing its goods and not create a hazard!