By Ed Hersh
From rat infestations to dog poop to overflowing trash receptacles to uncollected garbage, New York City’s Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch heard a basketful of concerns from Upper West Side residents Wednesday night at an hour-long virtual community forum organized by the Upper West Side Coalition. Tisch, in her current position since April, answered questions from coalition members and an online audience, as well as explaining some of her goals and challenges in keeping the city clean.
She told the group that when she was appointed five months ago, “I said the city was filthy. There was a diminution of funding for cleaning; we had essentially been defunded from the cleanliness business.” The greatest number of complaints to 311 were about overflowing trash cans at street corners.
Since July 1st, citywide, Tisch has restored some of the cuts, and said “there’s been a significant increase in litter basket service.” As a result, 311 complaints are down 60%. “It’s not controversial to say that New York City needs more litter baskets,” Tisch said, despite a former, counterintuitive policy that said less trash baskets were more efficacious. More baskets involves also finding funding for additional trucks and crews.
Tisch pointed out that in many situations — for example, when to place trash at the curb, cleaning up after pets, and removal of trash from around and under sidewalk sheds — multiple rules are already in place, but suffer from a lack of compliance. She said several times that she is looking into providing “additional enforcement” by department agents.
For addressing rat infestations, Tisch only offered long-term solutions. She is looking at shortening the time between when trash is put out and when it is picked up. “Changing the put-out time will improve the rat problem,” she said, but no new rules have been issued. Also being examined is requiring curbside containers to shield trash from rats. But, because of the cost and staffing issues at buildings and on trucks, these are not likely to be implemented anytime soon.
There were several questions about overflowing trash cans and rats in Riverside Park. While she was sympathetic, Tisch said it is the jurisdiction of the Parks Department not Sanitation. Any complaints Sanitation receives about parks are forwarded to the Parks Department.
In response to several questions about pet waste and litter tossed under benches and on streets, Tisch said it’s “absolutely unacceptable,” and reiterated her focus on increased enforcement. But she also said that personal responsibility must be part of the solution. “There are millions of New Yorkers and just 7,000 sanitation workers. Ultimately, we can’t clean up after every one of them.”
Tisch said the best way to report problems is through the 311 system, by phone, computer or app, which she and the department use to develop a data-driven picture of where the trouble spots are. “If it’s a Sanitation-related issue, I will look into it,” she pledged, as well as promising to respond in writing to the Coalition on the many questions there was no time to answer in this virtual forum.
You can watch the forum below.
She wants to change the hours buildings can put out their trash from 4pm to 8pm. This is to reduce the hours Rats can eat trash. I almost never see rats out before 8pm so I don’t see it changing anything except making it harder on building staff.
Why can’t they move curbside pick up hours to start at 10 AM, that way building workers can put the trash out at 9 AM, and the trash is only out for a few hours during daylight?
Note that before 10 AM they can do the street baskets and the large residential complexes that use dumpsters (NYCHA, Lincoln Towers, Park West Village).
Not all multi-family housing are large buildings with full time staff.
Many smaller five or six story multi-family have a staff consisting of just one super. He may live in building but also has a full time job elsewhere. Trash is taken out night before as such supers leave for work (that other job) same as everyone else, before 9AM.
Other trend (which is growing) is smaller buildings not having a live in super at all. Someone comes around once a day to deal with trash, sweep sidewalk, etc…
And residents who have to listen to building staff making lots of noise during supposed quiet hours.
The city has a budget crisis, maybe some enforcement of dog leash and excrement rules can help bring some relief from the entitled attitudes of dog owners and bring in some much needed revenue.
NYC is declining not because of rules, but rather lack of enforcement.
There should be a tax on dogs. They poop and pee everywhere. they are IN restaurants. Make it $10,000 per year for a license.
Dogs bring more to the economy than anything or anybody else. I say tax you.
Dogs are already licensed. Make it a regulation to have garbage cans with covers….and not to just place garbage bags out on street. Have garbage cans on every street corner..and have then picked up regularly…as for rats.. GET RID OF THE OUTDOOR SHELTERS for DINNIG !
You are very, very funny!
I have to be honest: my first reaction is who is this white woman who doesn’t appear to have ever picked up trash running such a massive department? But her answers were direct, her bar is high, and now I like her.
What, exactly, does someone who would “appear to have ever picked up trash” look like? Did you expect her to show up in work gloves with smudges of dirt on her face?
Why does it matter what color she is?
Sounds as if she kicked the “proverbial” can down the road (likely an empty one that was in the gutter) and didn’t really provide answers to the concerns mentioned in the report. What we need is a strong advocate for the cleaning up of the city that will obviously have to seek special funding and maybe even try to get a government agency involved by calling it what this situation is — a disaster, albeit a self-made one.
To all the dog owners on the UWS – please pick up after your pet. It’s so nice having all the dogs in the neighborhood – but not so nice having to dodge the piles of poop left behind. Seems to have gotten worse over the past few weeks.
Another suggestion for improving the cleanliness of our neighborhood is to not allow pups to relieve themselves in the middle of sidewalks or under sidewalk sheds (where smells are then trapped and cannot be washed away by rain). It’s been wonderful to see more dogs in the neighborhood over the past few years but I have noticed these unintended consequences more recently and this simple and easy kindness could make a big difference.
It’s not that easy to train a dog not to relieve themselves in the middle of the sidewalk. If there was more soil or grass patches along the path where they walk it would make it much easier for them not to use the sidewalk. Most such patches have signs asking dogs not to go there so there’s nowhere else for them to go. I’m lucky that I’m next to the park and she prefers going there but for people in the middle without a park across the street the sidewalk is the only place, and I don’t expect people will be prioritizing training them to only go on the side, especially for little dogs who can get easily hurt by a car/bike. As for sidewalk sheds – these businesses are getting free extra space at the expense of the public domain, I don’t think its outlandish to expect them to clean under their sheds regularly.
I have never seen the Westside so filthy as now. Four rats around 7 pm on West 87 th street between Central Park West and Columbus around 7pm. One ran over my foot.
Streets are not being swept.
With all of the restaurants sheds, there is more leftover food and trash on the sidewalks. Restaurants have never washed down there sidewalk, but now should be forced to do so. It would really help.
“their” sidewalks
Phew! Thanks.
I don’t think fewer trash baskets on the corner is counterintuitive. It’s like adding lanes to a highway. It just attracts more volume. People drop waste in the corner baskets with nary a thought. That coffee cup or soda bottle? Don’t take it home to make sure it’s recycled. Let the city deal with it. The most baffling is the constant placing of delivery boxes from addresses just down the street in or beside baskets. Don’t you have trash service at your brownstone rent control rental?
How about doing away with corner baskets altogether and letting the good citizens of NYC deal with negative externality of their own consumption themselves.? Give the doggie walkers some receptacles and let everyone else clean up after themselves.
It’s a nice idea. Trouble is you’d also have to legalize citizens beating litterers because too many people would just drop their trash in the gutter, put it on someone’s windshield, in a bicycle basket, you name it – the stuff they already do *despite* having public waste receptacles and their own trash disposal…
That would actually solve the problem but the city gives in to the complaints. People don’t want to have to throw their dog crap out in their own garbage at home. The $100 fine for throwing household trash in the baskets isn’t enforced either. I’ve seen car batteries, dead pigeons, kitchen trash bags, bricks, etc..in the baskets
What do you think should be dine with a dead pigeon? I applaud whoever picked it up off the street ir sidewalk and put it in the trash basket.
How is a dead pigeon “household trash”? You’re thinking that some person randomly found a dead pigeon in their apartment and said, “Hey, I think I’ll take a stroll with Mr. Pigeon Corpse and drop him in the trash can on the corner”?
Covid put eating on the street and I’m not just talking about restaurants. People take out food and bring it into parks, or sit on the Broadway medians and eat. People walk around with slices of pizza and other fast food. Their garbage has to go somewhere.
Finally, “changing the pick up time will reduce the rat population” YES, YES, YES.
From put out to pick up should happen within an hour …not overnight.
Just this alone would not only help by not feeding the rats, but also reduce the greasy drippings that soil our sidewalks, the dogs using the piles, the garbage pickers clanking and sorting.
Commissioner Tish, what is holding back this vital rescheduling, especially in our Manhattan residential neighborhoods?
No extra equipment needed, well maybe some communication tecnology.
If you institute nothing else, just do this one — create a more timely, put out/pick.
thank you, julie moses
No one is forced to put out their trash the evening before…that’s when they are allowed to. They can decide on their own to wait until early morning before the truck comes to pick up if they’re concerned about it being outside too long.
Your idea although utopian is unfeasible. New Yorker produce about 32 million lbs of household garbage daily. If every Sanitation worker were to work simultaneously in that 1 hour period each one would have collect almost 5000lb in that time frame. Assuming that all that garage is located centrally with no traffic or any other issues. This does not include corner basket or illegal dropout.
@Cor Ok then schedule it. The entire city does not have to be collected in a 1 hour period. Just as each block has blocks of time of no parking for alternate side street cleaning, each block can have a short (2-4 hour) window for trash pickup. It makes no sense that sanitation has 24-32 hours to pick up bags from the curb. Surely the truck fleet is more organized, and if it’s not, let’s make it so.
If they put back the trash cans DeBlasio removed it would be a lot better.
In the last couple of weeks, our trash cans have been removed.
The city could save millions if residents were required to take their own garbage to specific sites. And no food for rats. We do it in NC and it works fine.
I suspect in NC almost everyone has a car and can drive to there garbage sites. I don’t think we can expect people to walk too far carrying their garbage, especially the elderly and disabled. Maybe we could have special vehicles to transport these people. Or maybe we could have the spot be close, like rifht outside their building, and then garbage trucks could collect it.
Haha garbage bags in buses and subways to go the dump. Sounds like a plan
dog owners do not curb their dogs at all. they let their dogs relieve themselves right in the middle of busy sidewalks making everyone dodge the pee rivers while pushing strollers and granny carts around dog waste. Dog owners have no sensitivity to pedestrians or children walking to and from school and work. It’s really out of control I think we need more public service ads as well as some reinforcement with heavy fines. Our door man has to repeatedly wash away dog waste right in front of our front door. with buckets of water. Residents and passerbys have no inhibitions or respect for our streets or neighbors. It’s really out of control.
The Sanitation Commissioner should have taken suggestions and questions and given her answers in a live, public forum.
This WAS a live public forum (the recording was archived) and was well publicized before in the West Side Rag….
https://www.westsiderag.com/2022/09/18/opportunity-to-be-heard-by-the-commissioner-about-upper-west-side-sanitation-issues
Who is supposed to clean the street and inside the tree beds in front of vacant stores. There are so many empty stores and the streets are disgusting in front of these stores. The landlords need to be fined if their staff ignores their responsibilities
Could not agree more Lynn. We suffer from a lack of enforcement.