CB 10: Take the trash cans away, please

Local activists weren’t happy, last year, when the cityresponded to their request to remove the trash cans at Bay RidgeAvenue and Fourth Avenue by doubling down on the number of trashcans at the corner.

Now, with twice the trash to complain about, they are tryingagain to get the Department of Sanitation (DOS) to pull the cansfrom the corner on a trial basis, in hopes of discouragingneighborhood residents who deposit bags of household refuse in thecans from turning the busy intersection into their private dumpingground.

At Community Board 10’s most recent meeting, members decided topress DOS again to do what they want. We asked for this a yearago, recalled Greg Ahl, the board’s Environmental Committee.Instead, DOS put second baskets on each corner and the result isnow eight overflowing baskets with bags of illegally dumped garbagenext to them.

The problem is exacerbated by a decrease in the frequency ofcorner can collection, said C B 10 District Manager JosephineBeckmann. It really stems from the misuse of public receptacles,with people placing household and commercial garbage in them, whilepickup has been reduced by more than 50 percent, sheexplained.

Some areas where cans have been removed have benefited, notedBeckmann, who said she had just ridden along 11th Avenue, betweenBay Ridge Avenue and 62nd Street, which has no corner cans and notrash. It’s immaculate, she stressed.

In some areas, it has worked phenomenally, agreed BrunoIcchiano, a member of DOS’s Community Relations Department who wasthe guest speaker at this month’s Dyker Heights Civic Association,where residents complained vociferously about trash cansoverflowing along 13th Avenue.

Icchiano also said that the agency would send out undercoverSanitation police to stake out locations, if residents providespecific information about when and where the dumping is occurring.When we catch the person, we’ll issue a summons, he said.Unfortunately, that’s the only way some folks learn.

But Sanitation officials aren’t promising anything. Thedepartment will review the request once it is received, said DOSSpokesperson Matt Lipani.

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