Sunset Park’s Eighth Avenue is getting some cleanup cash

SUNSET PARK — The streets will stink no more — at least that’s the hope as extra garbage pickup is set to begin this week for heavily trafficked corridors in Sunset Park. 

Following reports that overflowing litter baskets in the heart of Sunset Park’s Eighth Avenue were causing a stink, City Council member Carlos Menchaca, who represents the neighborhood, announced a $50,000 allocation to go toward extra garbage pickups along Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth avenues to start this week. 

“My office heard the community loud and clear about the need for extra garbage pickup along Sunset Park’s busiest corridors, so we acted,” Menchaca told the Brooklyn Eagle. 

The funding will go directly to the sanitation agency’s Cleaning Operations Office to pick up garbage in litter baskets along the avenues on Mondays and Saturdays for the next 31 weeks, with a break from Jan. 4, 2020 through March 30, 2020.

The funding is part of the NYC Clean Up initiative, which allocates funds to each councilmember for programs and initiatives that would enhance district cleanliness, according to Sanitation Department spokesperson Dina Montes. 

Each council district receives the same amount of Clean Up initiative funds every fiscal year, which for Fiscal Year 2020 totaled $260,000 apiece. Menchaca made a call late last week to get a portion of the funding released following an uptick in complaints.  

“I will do whatever it takes to find funding for street cleaning and other quality of life services,” Menchaca said. “This $50,000 is a downpayment on that promise which I intend to keep growing.”