The city Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is dumping on Marine Park — literally.
“If the garbage bag breaks on the sidewalk, it’s their responsibility to clean it up. It’s their responsibility because they broke it,” East 34th Street resident Frank Guglielmo insisted at last week’s Marine Park Civic Association meeting, held at P.S. 222 on Quentin Road.
Not so, argued DSNY rep Iggy Terranova, who blamed residents for the broken trash bags.
“In this economy, we’re not buying the bags we used to buy. We’re buying bags from the 99-cent store,” he said.
Terranova was unrelenting in insisting that residents — and not the DSNY workers picking up trash — are expected to clean up the mess.
“If it falls on the sidewalk, our men and women will not pick it up,” he said. However, “If it falls on the street, they better pick it up.”
One time they don’t remove trash is on a holiday — and that stinks for Marine Park residents whose pickups are scheduled for Mondays, a common “off day.”
“It really does penalize people who get their garbage picked up on Mondays. We seem to be the people who are penalized the most,” said Hendrickson Street resident Dan Devlin.
That’s too bad, said an unmoved Terranova.
“The Monday people seem to take the most, but that’s how it is,” he said.
Another “that’s how it is” — Tom Labarbera, a former Sanitation employee, said a section of Coleman Street near Avenue V is a “known dumping ground.”
“What is the chance of getting the Sanitation police to get surveillance on that place?” he asked.
“We can’t be there 24 hours a day,” Terranova admitted. But he offered to work with Labarbera to determine when trash is dumped and send Sanitation staffers at the correct time.
Trash pickups aren’t the only gripe Marine Park residents have with the Sanitation Department. They accused the agency of worsening conditions on harsh snow days.
“We plow our driveways then along come your trucks. They plow to the right and then our driveways are covered again,” Guglielmo accused.
Such is life, Terranova replied.
“What do you want us to do with the snow? What can we do with the snow to make everyone happy?” he said.
Ascension Olivares knows what she wants Sanitation to do with the snow by bus stops — shovel it. She says far too many bus stops on Marine Park sidewalks are covered with mounds of snow, presenting dangerous conditions for riders.
“If you are waiting for the bus, you have to wait in the middle of the street or climb over the pile,” she said.
Terranova explained that Sanitation workers are expected to plow a “path” through the snow piles, thereby allowing riders to safely reach buses.
“We will get to every bus stop to shovel a path to that bus stop,” he said.
Residents may call 311 to report unsafe conditions.
