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Trash talk! City removed cans in Bay Ridge — now nabe is dirtier than ever

By Michelle Manetti
for The Brooklyn Paper
Enlarge this image
Photo by Michelle Manetti
Noumen Ali, manager of 24 Hour Store at the corner of 69th Street and Fourth Avenue, says he seen an uptick in litter since city trash cans were removed from the block.
Enlarge this image
Photo by Michelle Minetti
The city has removed public garbage pails like this one on the corner Fourth Avenue and 69th Street.

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Some Bay Ridgites are saying that litter along Fourth Avenue has gotten worse since the city removed public garbage cans at the request of a local panel that thought doing so would make the neighborhood cleaner.

At the request of Community Board 10, the Department of Sanitation removed 14 trash cans from Fourth Avenue between Ovington Avenue and 68th Street on May 9 as part of a test to see if the removal of the cans — which had become magnets for household trash — would decrease the amount of litter in the area.

Tomasos Restaurant

But the litter has gotten worse.

“The garbage is beginning to pile up in the street, people are dumping everywhere,” said Lorraine Principe, who lives on 72nd Street. “I can’t understand why [the city] would do this.”

Workers in the area agreed.

“I work here everyday and see people leave their cups and paper on the floor,” said Antonios Piberakis, a delivery man for Yannis restaurant on 69th Street at Fourth Avenue. “What are they supposed to do? Carry it home?”

Coincidentally, as we spoke to Piberakis, a woman threw her coffee cup on the street as she walked by.

“You see!” he said. “You see what they do!”

The removal of the cans comes a year after CB10 voted to ask the agency to get rid of them because they would overflow with trash — usually after residents illegally dumped household waste in them.

The agency initially ignored the board’s request, but in April of this year, it said it would remove the cans.

CB10 member Greg Ahl, who’s backed the plan to ban the cans for years, said that the cleanliness of the area has improved over the last two weeks.

“I have been monitoring the corners several times a day and have found that where was no increase in litter,” said the board’s Environmental Committee Chairman Greg Ahl at Monday night’s board meeting. ”All in all, promising results.”

The Department of Sanitation is also monitoring the area to see whether the removal of the cans will be permanent. A spokesman for the agency said that data would be analyzed in a week.

©2011 Community Newspaper Group

←Carroll Gardens: One of the last relics of old South Brooklyn — Joe’s Superette — closes
→Bay Ridge: Perfetto trial to get underway today

Reader Feedback

Or from Yellow Hook says:
Only the geniuses of the City would think that taking away trash cans would make the trash go away.

Time to appoint a study group to analyze this situation!

Let's wait for their report!

What is the difference if it is street trash or household trash? Does it go to a different dump?

With 3 busses stopping at 3 bus stops and the subway, with 2 corners of food, an two convenience stores on the 4 corners, how long should it take for these idiots to admit their mistake?
May 18, 2011, 8:32 am
Genius at work says:
just litter more who cares apparently the city doesn't why should you :)
May 18, 2011, 8:44 am
Ahab from Bay Rij says:
New to the nabe and I've never seen people treat their own neighborhood so poorly. Blatant littering, even in front of police, who don't ticket. Yes, if there isn't a trash can nearby and you are holding paper waste, you should carry it home, like a normal and responsible human being.
May 18, 2011, 10:06 am
common sense from bay ridge says:
Taxes, tolls, and fees keep going up, and new ones are invented daily. At the same time, the quality of life drops as quickly as expenses rise.
May 18, 2011, 11:55 am
KF from Bay Ridge says:
"Dept of Sanitation removed 14 trash cans from Fourth Avenue between Ovington Avenue and 68th St..."

The area from Ovington to 68th St is just 3 blocks long and they removed 14 trash cans? Where do you get the 14 trash cans? I've never seen 14 trash cans there (more likely closer to 6--one on each corner). But I agree that section of 4th Ave is probably the filthiest in Bay Ridge. It's always been disgusting and it still is--even minus the trash cans. If the real problem is the improper dumping of household trash, then those individuals need to be ticketed.
May 18, 2011, 4:50 pm
ty from pps says:
Why does this city go through the household garbage, find addresses and FINE the offenders... ya know, like EVERY OTHER CITY ON EARTH?!

Instead they pull this brilliant scheme? Buch of effin' geniuses in this city I tell ya.
May 18, 2011, 11 pm
CB from Bay Ridge says:
This was a dumb idea from the beginning.

But don't blame the City for this. Sanitation ignored the request to remove them for over a year before they finally caved into the request of the Community Board.
May 19, 2011, 1:14 pm
JHD from Bay Ridge says:
Call me crazy, but maybe the cans were overflowing, because they we're picked up enough by Sanitation? I know these blocks well, since my child goes to one of the schools on Ovington Ave. Sanitation drives down Fourth Ave. routinely, since we have residential pickups close by six days a week. I'm sure they could have added a single pickup per truck per day, and the cans would not have overflowed.

You can't stop the residents, many foreign-born, from adding their household garbage. Either put up cameras, add a policeman to patrol, or have Sanitation pick up the cans daily.

Now Sanitation can ticket the small businesses for not keeping their sidewalks clean. Residents lose again.
May 20, 2011, 11:54 am
MPT from Bay Ridge says:
There are some pigs living here that are too lazy to put their garbage out on time so they just put it in the corner cans. Sanitation needs to stake out some of the cans and start giving out tickets.

I'm not talking about the ones who put a small bag with a couple of cans in there, some of them think the cans are like a garbage dump.

Maybe giving out some tickets will stop the biggest abusers. I've seen some people on the avenues come out of their house and put their carbage in the cans instead of putting it in their own cans in front of their house.
May 21, 2011, 11:07 am
Bay Rute resident from Bay R(idge)ute says:
It's the new residents that are causing the issue but the solution is to ticket THEM, not to subject the rest of us to filthy streets.
The sanitation dept. is quick to issue summonses if they find a piece of paper in your non-recyclables but they don't do anything about the real problem.
Give the police the authority to ticket them (or force them to do so). The people doing this will never stop until they have to pay.
June 6, 2011, 4:35 pm

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