As clean as it gets (Looking west on Saratoga and Hancock)
The trash season is year-round in Bed-Stuy, but I’ll admit that during the winter months you usually see fewer plastic bags, lotto tickets and various other forms of trash deposited on the sidewalks and streets. I feel strongly that the neighborhood needs to clean up, because some parts of the neighborhood look like dumps. I can’t begin to imagine how trashy it’ll get when warmer weather arrives.
This week I got this email from a reader who feels the same way, and she decided to request public trashcans from the city. Here’s what she said in her email:
You may find this interesting… I went online and filled out a form to get more trash cans around Bed Stuy (I walked the other day from Common Grounds and it was FILTY on the street!)
I got a call from a Sanitation Commissioner about more trash cans in Bed Stuy. He thought I wanted a personal trash can (they provide those?). He told me I meant a “litterbox”. I told him we needed MANY more in Bed Stuy so people are more apt and prone to use a proper waste receptacle. He told me “You know what ‘they’ will do? If we put more litterboxes out ‘they’ will use it for personal trash from home and junk.” I was slightly offended by his use of “they”. I said I don’t know about all that, but I do know we need them. He started down another path and I said look how about a small step and provide one on corner of Throop an Putnam and another corner of Marcus Garvey. SO perhaps if you and others email, they will call and add more!
I sent an email to: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildos.html
But here is where you can request a can:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/contact/requests_litter.shtml
or here for more requests!
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/contact/requests_misc.shtml
Is that premium new yaki #27? A “tumbleweave” blows along Gates Avenue.
If you think that the end of your block needs one, then please put in a request for a litterbasket. There are two near my home, but I’d like to see a trashcan on every corner, then there’d be NO EXCUSE for the litterbugs among us. What else can we do to reduce the trash in our area?
i’m not sure this person’s experience would inspire me to request more cans, only because the guy they talked to is such a doofus. so, they will give people personal trash cans, but are hesitant to place more public trash cans for fear that some evil person will put their own trash in it?
okay, then we should request new, personal trash cans for every single house on every block. problem solved!
I have notice on my block that the street cleaner truck comes around 8:30 suppose to get there after 9 am and goes right up the center of the street. These guys are so lazy. Also the trash guys drop a lot of garbage when the move the trash from the sidewalk to the truck and they never pick it up.. well the Monday trash guys anyway…
Also growing up in south eastern Virginia. We had heavy fines for people that littered I think we should bring this to out neighborhood.. When It hits your pocket things change… All the young kids that sit around the neighborhood all summer doing nothing .. the city should have a program give them jobs cleaning up the blocks in Bedford Stuyvesant
Morgan, they do have littering fines, however, the DOS fines the owners of the property upon which they find the litter. so any goofball wlaking down the street can drop a pizza box on the sidewalk in front of your house and if the sanitation folks happen by, they can charge YOU for it. while it does create incentive, it sucks!
i too have noticed that monday’s garbage guys are not as dedicated as friday’s
Thanks for my afternoon laugh!!! I picked up a “yaki tumbleweed” yesterday
Morgan I like the teen jobs to pick up trash. Alas I am not sure many kids in the hood will want that job though
Perhaps probation offenders etc can do this? I am from CT and you often see orange jumpsuited people on the side of the highways…
Jimmy Legs – what is your solution if not more trash cans on the corner? I requested one yesterday for Monroe and Throop (near a school AND busstop…)
I’ve been seeing lots of poop on the streets- and not the animal kind.
We also need more mail boxes! There are no mail boxes in the area.
First, I need to admit that “tumbleweave” is my new favorite saying and I’m stealing it. Good one!
I live on Lafayette near Bedford and am constantly disgusted by the trash and general filth on the block. My supor also monitors some surrounding buildings and he’s always outside sweeping and making sure our trash is at least in the cans, but its not a job for one person. Plus, I see a good amount of rats scurrying around after dark and I’m sure this has a great deal to do with it. I also can kind of see the sanitation man’s point- I see people dumping TVs and stuff into the trashcan on the corner of Lafayette and Bedford (not to mention bags of household trash, one time I actually saw a child’s mattress leaning up against it!) If people don’t take pride in their block they won’t clean up, no matter how many trash cans there are.
@BrooklynIsis and Carmen: I’ve picked up a lot of new yaki hair since I’ve been in Bed-Stuy. A lot. It always seems to blow around my front door. And I’ve also found braids (more than once) in my tree pit. Look, everyone loves braids, but when you take your braids out, can you put them in a plastic bag and tie it up so that they don’t blow down the street into other people’s yards? (Of course, it might be that the braids fell out of the person’s hair unbeknownst to them. In that case, they’re forgiven.)
@Kevin: Human poop? (sigh) I know that there are homeless people and addicts who have to go and sometimes they don’t have a bathroom available, but this is Bed-Stuy, so there are plenty of abandoned houses, abandoned lots and areas where you can hide while you relieve yourself. There’s no reason that you should have to see human feces.
And I hadn’t thought about mailboxes, but you’re right. There really aren’t a lot of them in the area. Is there a place on the USPS website to request more?
@Morgan & JLegs: I wish they could somehow fine the people who do the littering. I’m sure that would cost the city too much to implement.
I keep revisiting the trash issue because I know that the way your environment looks has an effect on your behavior. If you live in a place that looks like a Godforsaken hell hole, then this can only feed your feelings of hopelessness. I’ve seen those block association signs around the neighborhood that tell people to take care of their neighborhood and not to litter, but I’d rather see the behavior–see people taking care of the neighborhood, see people putting trash in the litterbasket. Again, this is not a problem in all parts of the neighborhood, but it’s definitely a problem in the north stuy.
does anyone have experience with broken glass. not sure if people throw their bottles mostly booze, on the sidewalk for fun to see it splatter into a million piece which takes forever to clean up.
All jokes aside, this is a serious problem. Our neighborhood is filthy. Is anyone interested in addressing this issue with our elected officials with a unified voice? If so, please contact me at wesg3@yahoo.com.
C’mon folks we can make a difference! Changeling, you do so much already, but do you have any suggestions?
there is a serious shortage of both trash cans AND mail boxes around here. i love the folks on the side streets who have taken matters into their own hands by providing garbage bags tied to the fences or other resourceful places. i do, however, think it has alot to do with how people view their neighborhoods and the disconnect that might be occurring between some people and the place they call home. i see people walk down the street every day and just toss their empty food containers, soda/beer/whatever bottles, and other garbage right on the sidewalk, and unfortunately, i don’t think it has anything to do with a shortage of “litterboxes”. until people feel like they make a difference in their own neighborhoods and that their neighborhoods are their home and a place to respect, have pride in, and keep clean a trash can on every block isn’t going to help matters. so what to do?
I know this is going to sound crazy to most people of this generation. But I group up in Brooklyn in the 60s and we owned two houses one house apart. Both of my parents worked and went to school at night. Our tenants used to help sweep not only down the steps and in front of our steps but the neighbors house in between also. This is foreign to the new generation. You need laws and a mandate to keep your front clean? How sad. If you love clean, just clean where you live. It doesn’t take a “movement”.
Thanks la duchessa! I am going to put a trash bag on my fence tonight!
@Wes: I took awhile to think about this. I can’t figure out what makes people litter so I can’t figure out what to do to make them stop.
If you address this with our elected officials, let me know. You can add my name to the effort.
“the city should have a program give them jobs cleaning up the blocks in Bedford Stuyvesant”
This is a step in the right direction but the problem goes much deeper. Firstly, some of these people (if we can call them that) basically have no manners. If they’re leaving trash on the sidewalk, their homes much look a lot worse. Most of the offenders are young kids followed by the homeless breaking open garbage bags looking for cans and bottle to make some cash from.
Then, you have your housing project residents and their kids who have obviously grown up with very little self discipline. These constitute the majority of the offenders. The public housing is dotted in Bed Stuy all the way up to Myrtle Ave and all streets from Fulton via Nosstrand experience the heaviest amount of foot traffic and the largest amounts of trash.
Plastic bag and garbage cans won’t help. These people don’t care, not about themselves, not about their neighborhood or their neighbors. There is very little that can be done other than massive anti litter enforcement efforts by the NYPD. A court appearance and a good solid fine would do wonders for those with little regard for where they live. Once the word spreads and they realize that substantial penalties may be accrued from their disrespectful activities will their attitudes change.
We all realize the problem yet are hoping our elected “leaders” will do “something.” Let’s have a little bit of reality check here for a minute. I know the cries of “racism” and “police brutality” will begin to surface if these efforts begin to materialize. And that’s unfortunate and possibly the reason why our elected leaders know what to do but refuse because it will be something the media will convince us is unpopular. So drown in filth we shall remain.
Now, let’s put 2 & 2 together for a minute. A lot of the crime and drugs were diminished when we began to see cops walking the beat in Bed Stuy. We can see and end to litter if we stand behind the police to enforce their quality of life mandate and not protest against them for doing so.
The movement to clean the neighborhood has to start at the grassroots. The plan should allow the NYPD to summons anyone caught throwing litter on the sidewalk. A massive PR blitz by the residents and land owners warning everyone what is about to occur would prep people not to over react when the enviable clashes with the police begin. Do we have the will to ignite this? I doubt it.
The above is the only realistic solution in my eyes. Other than that, hiring 24 hour street sweepers would also do the trick