Here’s one way to fight litter: A Bay Ridge superintendent has posted signs calling his tenants “stupid” and “retarded” because of the sloppy way they put out their garbage.
Richard Martin, the superintendent at 278 91st St., has begun posting the flyers on the glass doors of his building, alerting tenants of his disapproval of their trash-room etiquette.
The flyers vary from advising tenants on how to dispose of mirrors — “Normal & right thing to do when you put out a broken mirror is to wrap in paper & tie up & mark broken glass” — to simply reminding them to put the garbage in the garbage cans for a change.
“I expect you to put your garbage in those cans and not on top of other cans and covers,” he wrote, adding, for good measure, “Stop being lazy” and “You people are getting very stupid and dangerous … Tenants better stop being so stupid & retarded.”
Despite such notices, cigarette butts and Q-tips can still be seen on the lobby floor and garbage is still piled high atop cans outside.
So Martin upped the ante, agreeing to talk about his signs with The Brooklyn Paper.
“People are a bunch of pigs. They don’t care,” said Martin, who has lived in Bay Ridge since the 1970s.
He said he put up the signs because the local quality of life is declining and he needed to take a stand.
And some of his tenants sympathized with his approach.
“He’s a nice guy,” said Leila Bakrri.
But not everyone likes being called “retarded.”
“I appreciate what this guy is trying to do, but at the end of the day, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” said one local resident.
That’s ironic, considering flies are one of the things Martin is trying to keep away.
