City Councilmember Mark Treyger announced a package of new quality-of-life services coming to his district focused on street cleaning and beautifying high-traffic corridors.
“This is tremendous news for southern Brooklyn’s quality of life and I believe providing a critical service for seniors and people with disabilities,” Treyger said. “In total, this is a major investment to hone in on certain commercial corridors in our district that need more support than just the base level of service that Sanitation provides. I have much appreciation for DSNY but we need a lot more attention paid to certain corridors with more high volume traffic.”
The councilmember representing Gravesend, Coney Island, Bath Beach and parts of Bensonhurst secured an additional $280,000 in funding for the NYC Clean-Up Initiative through his role on the City Council’s Budget Negotiation Team — which he told Brooklyn Paper allows him more leverage for his district.
“It has been very helpful to serve on a number of committees because there are so many issues that we tackle here,” Treyger said. “It gives me a greater platform to advocate and deliver for my district.”
The beautification services will be conducted in partnership with neighborhood groups and transitional work organizations, such as the Center for Employment Opportunities and Wildcat Service Corporation that give work opportunities to people with criminal convictions or who were recently incarcerated.
Wildcat Service Corporation will provide graffiti removal, spot cleaning and e-waste collection and snow shoveling for seniors and people with disabilities. They will also do weekly cleanings along several commercial corridors in District 47, including:
- Mermaid Avenue from W. 23rd Street to W. 29th Street with a particular focus around W. 27th Street— the location of the neighborhood’s post office which has often been the subject of complaints, according to Treyger.
- 86th Street from 18th to 26th avenues
- 18th Avenue from 86th to 64th streets
- Avenue U from McDonald Avenue to 86th Street
- Avenue X from McDonald Avenue and Stryker Street
- Kings Highway from McDonald Avenue to Stillwell Avenue
Services contracted with Wildcat Service Corporation cost the highest portion of the funding secured by Treyger at $155,000.
Another $45,000 will go towards the city Department of Sanitation expanding its wastebasket collection services along 86th Street by two additional days to seven days a week.
The Alliance for Coney Island, a community improvement group, will be allocated $40,000 to conduct supplemental cleaning services, as well as graffiti removal and beautification.
Neptune Avenue will see cleaning provided by the Center for Employment Opportunities using $30,000 of the new funding.
A $30,000 grant through the “A Greener NYC” program and the remaining $10,000 from Treyger’s funding will go to the Kings Highway Beautification Association to complete streetscape enhancements, horticulture services, graffiti removal, and power washing along Kings Highway, and Avenue U.
Treyger said he has been devoted to helping clean-up areas in desperate need of some maintenance throughout his tenure and encourages constituents to reach out to his office to report areas of concern by email at mtreyger@council.nyc.gov or by phone at 718-307-7151.
“We all deserve to live and work in safe, clean neighborhoods,” he said in a statement. “I fought hard to increase this funding for my district and I will continue to focus on reducing litter, graffiti, and neglect.”
