A clean sweep for Southwest Brooklyn

Southwest Brooklyn is getting a clean break from trash.

As part of the City Council’s Cleanup NYC initiative, several south Brooklyn streets will be getting scheduled cleanings several times a week starting November 1.

After helping to allocate $130,000 for the cleanups through Cleanup NYC, an initiative that supplements the city’s sanitation efforts, Councilmember Mark Treyger—joined by Assemblymember William Colton and several other local elected officials, leaders and community organizations—took to Bensonhurst to announce the overhaul taking place there on 86th Street and 18th Avenue, Avenue U in Gravesend and Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island.

“The Cleanup NYC Initiative is one of the most successful initiatives to come out of the City Council,” said Treyger. “Cleanliness is one of the top neighborhood complaints my staff and I receive, and to be able to  respond directly to that by beautifying our neighborhood with scheduled cleanups is something we can all be proud of.”

The cleaning services, to be carried out by the Doe Fund and the Wildcat Service Corporation, will take place four times a week on 86th Street, between 18th and 26th Avenues, and three times a week on Avenue U, between McDonald Avenue and Ocean Parkway, according to Treyger.

Mermaid Avenue, between Stillwell Avenue and West 33rd Street (along with the streets between Mermaid and Surf Avenues from Stillwell Avenue to West 19th Street) will see cleanings on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Treyger has also allocated funds for an extra day of cleaning to take place along 18th Avenue, between 68th and 86th Streets, where cleaning is already taking place several times a week.

“We have always believed that when you have littering on commercial streets, it does great damage to the community,” said Colton. “It creates a climate and an environment which is not conducive to quality of life. It affects more than just the street or the attitudes of the people forced to walk on this street. It affects business and residential life. This is a broad approach that includes work in multiple neighborhoods in an entire section of Brooklyn, and it is possible because we have elected officials working together to make it possible.”

“Councilmember Treyger is not only improving the quality of life for residents of District 47—one our city’s most diverse and vibrant districts—he’s also creating jobs that pay above the minimum wage for New Yorkers who need them most,” added George McDonald, founder and president of the Doe Fund. “All of us at The Doe Fund are so grateful to him and to the residents of District 47 to be able to service this community and help create a cleaner, safer, stronger New York City along the way.”

According to the City Council, the Doe Fund supplements the city’s sanitation efforts by providing litter removal, recycling programs, graffiti removal, snow shoveling and tree maintenance for city streets. Since its inception, the Doe Fund’s program has created over 100 new jobs for formerly homeless and incarcerated individuals.