Sheepshead Bay’s ongoing battle against trash is about to get real.
The problem of the neighborhood’s overflowing trash cans won’t be solved until locals stop dumping household garbage in street bins, and the area’s crusading councilman is vowing tougher enforcement against scofflaws.
“They’re going to get summonses,” said Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay)
Deutsch said the Department of Sanitation is going to step up monitoring area wastebaskets and sock rubbish rogues with $100 tickets — but he cautioned that it will take time to correct residents’ bad habits.
“This is years and years of people just throwing out their household trash and things out their window,” said Deutsch. “This is just the beginning.”
In the meantime, Deutsch is devoting discretionary funds to increase the pickup schedule on Sheepshead Bay Road and Avenue U, which he said will begin soon.
“I have chosen to allocate funding through the Cleanup NYC initiative to the Department of Sanitation for additional street litter basket collections,” said Deutsch. “More frequent basket collections will make a favorable impact on the trash problem that currently affects the neighborhood.”
Deutsch is also hosting a second community cleanup day on Aug. 17, and he said this is one of the many steps he is taking to tidy the trashed neighborhood.
A community activist who attended the first cleanup day in July said that the cleanup was helpful and sent a positive message, but agreed a more permanent solution is needed to ensure the streets stay spiffy.
“It was clean and then after about four days, it started to get messy — and after a week, it was disgusting,” said Bruce Rothman. “We have to work on the problems that are helping cause the mess.”
Chaim Deutsch’s Community Cleanup [Avenue U and East 24th Street in Sheepshead Bay, (718) 368–9176]. Aug. 17, 10 am.
