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The Dirty, Rotten Truth About Upper Broadway

January 5, 2023 | 9:40 AM
in COLUMNS, OUTDOORS
122
Photographs by Sally Koslow. Broadway, 1/4/2023, between W.96th and W. 106th streets.

By Sally Koslow

Typically, I don’t intrude on random conversations of strangers. But yesterday when that other New York newspaper, the Times, suggested I do exactly that as a part of its 7-Day Happiness Challenge, I felt impelled to accost two women sharing an animated conversation. They had me at overhearing the word “filth.” There’s an unprecedented amount of it along Broadway between 96th and 106th Street. I can’t stand it and neither, as it turned out, can they.

“This part of Broadway never used to be so disgusting,” one woman said. I’ve lived nearby for almost twenty years and couldn’t disagree.

Litter is too genteel a word for the trash covering our sidewalks, spilling into gutters and rotting away next to tree trunks. “I’m horrified by how some storeowners fail to sweep,” said the second woman I met. We were looking at you, Duane Reade on 102nd Street, where it strikes me as only fair that an employee should get busy with a broom outside in exchange for customers waiting twenty minutes to buy an innocent bottle of ibuprofen imprisoned under lock and key.

There are other problems in our vicinity. Rats have multiplied in Biblical proportions since the pandemic, brazenly dashing in daylight to munch at vermin-level all-you-can-eat buffets near restaurant sheds. There’s crime, which thank God has yet to touch anyone I know personally, but scares the bejesus out of me—1970-style muggings, rapes, stabbings, gunshots, pickpocketing, and murders. But let’s stick with garbage, because it strikes me as the easiest problem to solve. Yet, it seems to increase by the day.

Since it was an unseasonably warm morning, I decided to stroll from 106th to 96th to photograph the rubbish and refuse situation (discounting what was overflowing actual trash bins.) I found empty beer bottles and pizza boxes, half-filled coffee cups, dozens of discarded cardboard boxes that no one had flattened and bundled in front of a butcher shop, a skinny dumpster-like space between Serafina and the bar next door chocablock with crap that looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned since the Giuliani administration, and more. Much more. McDonald’s is perhaps the worst offender. I wanted to photograph its outdoor junkyard, but some poor soul was lounging on a folding chair, smoking something, surrounded by what might be all her worldly possessions. I didn’t want to intrude.

People, we do not live in a slum. Apartments in this neck of the woods often sell for far above a million dollars, on par with the infinitely tidier Upper East Side. Is the issue that our ‘hood has more absentee landlords who have no idea–or interest in–what a pigsty our street has become? One of the women I met today told me she stopped to thank a man who was sweeping in front of his store. “Don’t thank me,” he insisted. “I’m just doing my job.” But do most store owners not give—pardon the expression—a rat’s ass about the mess beyond their front door? Should we blame the many scaffolds where the city’s growing homeless population sets up housekeeping?

In the late 1980’s, my husband, a commercial real estate executive, met Michael Dukakis, former governor of Massachusetts and Presidential candidate. “If you were mayor of New York City, what would be the first thing you’d do to make it better?” he asked.

“I’d clean it up,” Gov. Dukakis said without skipping a beat. “A clean city gives people pride. Once you have pride, you can handle all the other problems.” Has our collective pride gone the way of landlines, subway tokens, and writing checks?

I want my lovely, clean neighborhood back. What is preventing  our civic leaders from solving this problem?

Sally Koslow is a journalist and novelist. Set on the Upper West Side, her latest novel, The Real Mrs. Tobias, looks at the fraught mother/daughter-in-law relationship.

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Lizzie
Lizzie
2 years ago

Amen! I live at 104th, and it shocks me that business owners let this situation continue. There are numerous restaurants on the 103-104 block, some with outdoor seating, and I can’t imagine how they think potential customers feel about patronizing a store with disgusting trash festering on the sidewalk outside.

The situation under the sidewalk shed outside Ben and Jerry’s at 104 is particularly awful. Every night, homeless people assemble mounds of discards under there, and in the morning it’s strewn all around. The vestibule for BeFit and the dance center is filthy, but the business owners just shrug, like there’s nothing they can do. Clean it up, that’s what you can do! I know it’s not your fault, but it’s your business. That block has McDonalds, Ben and Jerrys, BeFit, Riverside Liquors, Plowshares Coffee, and a barbershop. Surely among them they can manage to keep their block clean.

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GrumpyOldMan
GrumpyOldMan
2 years ago

Wondering if the district’s council member will remediate the problem? Wondering if the city council person for District 6 is aware of the problem. There is no question the quality of life in the upper reaches of District 6 is diminishing.

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Elizabeth Kellner
Elizabeth Kellner
2 years ago
Reply to  GrumpyOldMan

Currently the east side of Broadway is in the 7th District and the west side of Broadway is the 6th District. With the redrawn lines the entire area all the way from CPW to Riverside will be in the 7th currently represented by freshman Councilmember Shaun Abreu who I am sure will be running for reelection this year. You should email his office.

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Kim
Kim
2 years ago

The only way is to get Sanitation to cite these stores and restaurants that refuse to clean up the sidewalks in front of their stores/restaurants. Increase the fines. That’s disgusting.

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Mia
Mia
2 years ago
Reply to  Kim

Snap a photo and submit this form for a sanitation report: https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-01803 no phone call needed and it takes two minutes.

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Ira Gershenhorn
Ira Gershenhorn
2 years ago
Reply to  Mia

Did that on 1/4 for the second item which is in front of the Duane Reade between 103 and 102.

1
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Pepper
Pepper
2 years ago
Reply to  Kim

Good luck calling Sanitation. They will say they inspected it & did not find a violation.

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Jim
Jim
2 years ago
Reply to  Pepper

Did that for the mess on 100th and Columbus and DSNY said they would look at it within 10 days. Then they closed the case without any action.

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Ira Gershenhorn
Ira Gershenhorn
2 years ago
Reply to  Pepper

Sanitation is actually fairly responsive. I consider them the best agency.

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mla
mla
2 years ago
Reply to  Kim

Kim,
You may not be aware that people routinely dump garbage on the street – and buildings/shops are unfairly penalized for trash that is not theirs.

For example, a huge box of trash was dumped on the sidewalk in front of the office building where I work. It sat there for days.
It was not where the buildings’ trash was situated and the building’s commercial trash collector would not have even seen it.
DSNY would not have even known about it either as it was mid-block, not by a street trash can.

The building had to go to the local BID for help

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mla
mla
2 years ago
Reply to  mla

Kim,
Per my comment, I am referring to the office building where I work.
Though not on the UWS, it faces the same issue – that people illegally dump garbage – sometimes huge – on the block.
The building uses private trash collector – they come on a schedule, not “on demand”.
DSNY empties sidewalk trash – also a schedule.

BTW see Silver Moon comment below.

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Kim
Kim
2 years ago
Reply to  mla

Not buying it. If it’s dumped in front of your building storefront you are responsible and don’t tell me you can’t see it.

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Concernedsmallbusinessowner
Concernedsmallbusinessowner
2 years ago
Reply to  Kim

I would like people to understand how much of a problem this attitude is. If it is the store’s garbage of course they should be fined. But the really small businesses and Mom and Pop shops with very small staffs that everyone cares about have so many worries right now – still pivoting or surviving from the pandemic changing EVERYTHING, that it is so unfair when garbage is dumped at our curb and we have to clean up others’ messes. Sometimes we have no idea until the end of the day when we plan to leave. There should be a better solution than fining businesses when it is not their garbage. I can tell someone to move away from my store and stop throwing garbage in front of it but if they don’t, I still have to pick it up.

You wonder why so many businesses are wanting to leave NYC? This is one of the reasons along with plenty of others. This city is the most UNFRIENDLY to businesses so if there are more vacant stores, please don’t complain.

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Pedestrian
Pedestrian
2 years ago
Reply to  Concernedsmallbusinessowner

There was a time when mom and pop business worked hard to keep their sidewalks clean. Having said that I blame the city.

1
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mla
mla
2 years ago
Reply to  Pedestrian

Also there was a time when folks did not leave Starbucks cups overflowing on trash cans or their Amazon boxes in front of somebody else’s building/storefront or let their dogs pee on schools…
Sad

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Joan
Joan
2 years ago

You have left out one of the biggest dirtying of our sidewalks on the Upper West Side- and that is dog owners who do not train their dogs to go do their business at the curb. I am tired of skirting dog pee and poop in the middle of the sidewalk. Also I continuously see dogs going on plants and trees that have guardrails around them and signs saying to curb your dog.

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Tom
Tom
2 years ago
Reply to  Joan

Amen! This article is LONG overdue and your comment is totally correct.

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Rafael
Rafael
2 years ago
Reply to  Joan

When I moved to NYC with my dog, at first, I was completely unaware of the meaning of ‘curb your dog’, which is not common parlance or a practice in most of America. Had I understood the expression, I would have gladly complied from the outset.

An ad-campaign or clearer terminology would probably have an impact.

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Brooks A
Brooks A
2 years ago
Reply to  Joan

The owners need to be trained more than the dogs do! My dog usually goes to the curb to do his business, but sometimes (for whatever reason) he doesn’t make it there. I still clean it up! It amazes me how many people simply leave their dog’s poop wherever it happens to be.

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NYYgirl
NYYgirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Joan

A lady came out of a building on 106th and literally led her dog directly to the tree pit (right in front of the door) which had lovely flowers in it…ostensibly planted by someone in her building! And there was a sign posted exactly where she was standing! My kids and I were totally flabbergasted. I mean, if that’s what people do….?!

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Also Moderate
Also Moderate
2 years ago

Considering Broadway is the only avenue that runs from the Battery to the northern tip of Manhattan, I’d say that using “Upper Broadway” for which is, at best, mid-Broadway, is a bit of a misnomer.

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Eric
Eric
2 years ago
Reply to  Also Moderate

You’ve not lived in Manhattan for very long, clearly…Oldtimers still consider the UWS to end at 96th.

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mla
mla
2 years ago
Reply to  Eric

Eric-
Actually as lifelong West Sider, I’d say most long-time residents consider it ends at 110.

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Jim
Jim
2 years ago
Reply to  Eric

The old timers are wrong. It clearly ends at 110th.

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Trish Heise
Trish Heise
2 years ago

Could not agree more—it’s an absolute mess up here. I find myself skipping down not just Broadway, but most streets, trying to avoid trash, broken glass, or dog poop. It’s perilous to look up in this city, apparently. And why does this persist? Probably some combination of the milieu of impunity since the pandemic and its social/political revolution, the inexplicable remoteness of city council and committee meetings, political ambivalence toward the streets becoming open-air asylums, and shuttered, nearly shuttered, or otherwise poorly-managed businesses. And we all—all of us living here—need to start putting the pressure on our leadership by making phone calls and showing up at meetings (virtual or otherwise). And we need to resurrect the concept of grassroots community organizing (someone hosting informal meetings with neighborhood stakeholders to find a common agenda and put the political pressure on, collectively). I fear the current, suboptimal state of affairs will settle in if not countered…yesterday.

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Lisa
Lisa
2 years ago
Reply to  Trish Heise

The key phrase in this article is “the infinitely tidier Upper East Side.” So true !! Why is that? What are they doing that we (or Gale Brewer) is not?

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Zig
Zig
2 years ago

For some of those smaller situations documented a trash picker and a pair of gloves go a long way

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Vikki S.
Vikki S.
2 years ago

This line of thinking started with a “happiness challenge?”
Prompts that go awry!

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Phoebe
Phoebe
2 years ago
Reply to  Vikki S.

Well, it IS a challenge!

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NYYgirl
NYYgirl
2 years ago

What a coincidence to see this article today. I almost sent in a photo just this am that looks like all the others above but then realized I didn’t have my phone on me. I have never had to stop for so many rats crossing my path around 7-7:30 as I do now…on a regular basis, almost every other day. Last month I was eating in one of those sidewalk sheds for the first time in practically two years, with a rat for company, When I showed the waiter, he shrugged.

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RAL
RAL
2 years ago

More to the point – why has that stretch gone to hell over last few years – garbage is a symptom. Never used to avoid it at nite in 30 years like I do now

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Seth
Seth
2 years ago
Reply to  RAL

Yeah I’ve got to say that it has gotten pretty sketch at nighttime around here and I never used to feel that way even when I was growing up here in the 90s and 2000s . I’m used to the random crackheads or panhandler homeless guys here and there but now my six sense for danger is on steroids if I’m leaving my partners apt at 1am. At first I thought I was just old and a coward now or something lol

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Joe
Joe
2 years ago

First Diblasio, and now Adams is letting the city become a complete mess, especially Manhattan that both seem to have ignored. Please address this. And why aren’t the restaurants, and businesses, and landlords in front of these messes not cleaning them up? They should be fined for garbage in front of their buildings.

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Sam Katz
Sam Katz
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

There is a worker shortage in those industries. This is why many areas chose to add private sanitation with a BID — Business Improvement District. They are very effective in aiding the City.

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CardiZ
CardiZ
2 years ago

Garbage? Yes, it’s bad. But what bothers me most since 2020 is the absolute flounting of the law regarding motorized vehicles on SIDEWALKS. The cops do nothing to stop perpetrators. It’s so dangerous and scary and nobody cares, it’s now an accepted fact of living here.

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Sam Katz
Sam Katz
2 years ago
Reply to  CardiZ

Starting around 2012, the NYC City Council demanded police back off all quality of life crimes in the wake of the Eric Garner case. This is all a result. All of this — from trash to traffic — is the fault of the NYC Council.

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OPOD
OPOD
2 years ago
Reply to  CardiZ

The war on Police has consequences. What else happened in 2020? New Yorkers stood by and watched as there Police Department was Attacked, Defunded, Disrespected and Demoralized. Nobody wants to be the Police in NYC anymore. And now you expect to be safe, LOL, it doesn’t work that way.

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Michael
Michael
2 years ago

One problem is tickets can only be written at certain hours

Property owners must clean the sidewalks next to their property and 18 inches from the curb into the street.

The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) inspects sidewalks during specific times of the day. Sidewalk cleaning enforcement times depend on the type of property.

Residential Properties
DSNY agents can only issue violations for dirty sidewalks next to residential properties from 8 AM to 9 AM and from 6 PM to 7 PM, 7 days a week.

Commercial Properties
Commercial property enforcement times are limited to two 1-hour periods per day. The exact times depend on the Sanitation section the address is located in.

When businesses are closed they must arrange to have the area maintained.

Look up commercial enforcement routing times for a specific address.

Mixed-Use Properties
Mixed-use properties are used for both commercial and residential purposes. Enforcement times depend on the use of the first floor of the building where the violation occurs.

If the business on the first floor is operating, DSNY can issue violations during commercial routing times for the address.

Look up commercial enforcement routing times for a specific address.

If the business on the first floor is permanently closed or vacant, DSNY can issue violations only during residential routing times. Residential routing times are 8 AM to 9 AM and PM to 7 PM, 7 days a week.

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Clean Freak
Clean Freak
2 years ago

Hey, the Upper East side ain’t much better either!

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Christine E
Christine E
2 years ago
Reply to  Clean Freak

East 86th around Lex is disgusting. But the rest of the East Side is for the the most part much much cleaner than the West Side.

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Alex T.
Alex T.
2 years ago

Columbus in the low-mid 90s is also full of trash. And for the past several months, there are have missing trash cans on the East side of Columbus. Then one day one reappears, only to disappear again 2 days later. And on the opposite side of the street, the trash can is often located between the car lanes and bike lane, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost been hit by a bike or scooter while putting my dogs poop bag into the trash can.

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Patty Dann
Patty Dann
2 years ago

Well said, Sally! Unfortunately…

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Balebusta
Balebusta
2 years ago

What an absolutely laughable entitled liberal idea! ““I’m horrified by how some storeowners fail to sweep,” said the second woman I met. We were looking at you, Duane Reade on 102nd Street, where it strikes me as only fair that an employee should get busy with a broom outside in exchange for customers waiting twenty minutes to buy an innocent bottle of ibuprofen imprisoned under lock and key.” You are waiting 20 minutes because these stores (staffed by minimum wage workers) are under resourced, and everything is locked up because of the rampant crime in the area which liberals have continued to encourage by repeatedly voting for people who revoked broken windows policing and the bail laws. And our streets are filthy because of our horrible local government! What has Gale Brewer, Helen Rosenthal, DeBlasio and now Eric Adams ever done except for showboat, grandstand and pander to their loyalist minions? But yes, absolutely, we should blame the hardworking low-paid employees for not getting out the broom and sweeping up the street so your delicate eyes won’t be offended by the detritus. Who is it exactly that you think is leaving their garbage on the sidewalks, with a large majority of the trash showing up in front of establishments such as McDonald’s? I am sure this comment won’t get posted, like my last 5 comments, (hi WSR moderators!), but of course censoring the voices of locals in opposition has now become standard (the irony that the inclusive, make-room-for-everyone liberals can’t tolerate hearing other perspectives is never lost on me). So much pearl-clutching here, it’s absurd.

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Kevin F
Kevin F
2 years ago
Reply to  Balebusta

Ironic comment, in light of their CFO’s recent statements where Walgreens admitted to overstating theft concerns.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/05/walgreens-may-have-overstated-theft-concerns.html

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Lisa
Lisa
2 years ago
Reply to  Balebusta

Dear Balebusta: when you wrote “Who is it exactly that you think is leaving their garbage on the sidewalks” — what is your answer to this question? I don’t understand.

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Concernedsmallbusinessowner
Concernedsmallbusinessowner
2 years ago
Reply to  Balebusta

You are 100% correct in every way.

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Barbara B
Barbara B
2 years ago
Reply to  Balebusta

Balebusta, it is the LAW for shop owners to sweep in front of their store and maintain the area. They also have to shovel snow, so pedestrians do not slip and fal… I have personally gone into Duane Reade on 102nd on several occasions to ask them to sweep. The manager took care of it. There is no reason that we should have to wade through trash. The folks hired at various stores are required to perform different tasks. Sweeping the sidewalk daily is one of them.

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Barbara Bryan
Barbara Bryan
2 years ago
Reply to  Barbara B

Thank you Barbara B. for taking some very constructive action on the problem.

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Laurie
Laurie
2 years ago

And Amen again. Walk further up Broadway and take a look at the massive amount of trash in front of the CVS on the southwest corner. Then the trash under the scaffolding north of 110th along with the sleeping homeless. Thank you for a well written article.

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Roxy
Roxy
2 years ago
Reply to  Laurie

Wrote Dennis O’Donnell about this block and got a boilerplate reply.

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Jay
Jay
2 years ago

Did you send these photos to the Dept of Sanitation? There’s a contact webform one can find with a general websearch.

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Mimi
Mimi
2 years ago

Amen! Hopefully someone in Sanitation and local leaders pay attention to this article. The problem goes beyond 106 st. It goes as far as 112th. Restaurants must be made responsible for their garbage and their sidewalks being washed everyday with soap.- many are just greasy and filthy.. I have seen shrimp shells, fish skins and filthy water standing on 107-108 from the restaurants. Homeless are all over and not to mention the delivery bikes taking over the sidewalks and never getting cleaned. It is sad that the Upper Westside doesn’t get the attention it needs and deserves. . City leaders need to take care of their constituents not just ask for their vote. This is a beautiful area and it needs everyone’s voices to make it better. Thanks for writing the article!

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Lisa
Lisa
2 years ago
Reply to  Mimi

I wish a candidate would run on a single issue: delivering a clean Upper West Side. They would win.

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Victoria
Victoria
2 years ago

Outside my apartment building on West 98th b/w Broadway and West End is filthy. There’s an abandoned porta potty covered in graffiti and frequently bags of McDonald’s trash and dog poop strewn all over the sidewalk. I’m ashamed to have friends over it’s so disgusting. I agree this part of UWS seems way worse than equivalent over on UES.

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Suzanne
Suzanne
2 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

The porta a potty is still operational and is for workers finishing up the roof replacement. It will be gone soon.

Agree 98th terribly dirty, as well as so many blocks in area.

Curious: I thought there used to be street cleanup by the DOE Fund? Are the streets dirtier because people are worse about the trash or because the neighborhood always had its street trash cleaned by the DOE Fund?

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Chuck D
Chuck D
2 years ago

The worst offender is the 24th Precinct and their parking lot on 100th.

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Robert
Robert
2 years ago
Reply to  Chuck D

Agreed – rampant double & triple parking of official and unofficial vehicles (having police placards), parking on sidewalks, abandoning destroyed/totaled cars there for months or years, leaving trash from those totaled vehicles in bags between cars for months on end, collecting evidence from cars in the middle of the street, etc. etc.

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Nora
Nora
2 years ago

Agree. We need to know who’s not doing the job. Local politicians are ineffective What creates accountability? Remember too that the city is no longer responsible for the medians on broadway. I’ll personally patrol if it would make a difference.

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Harry
Harry
2 years ago

Funny B’way isn’t full of litter in the 60s. I wonder why not.

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Asil
Asil
2 years ago

I think Broadway, east side between 104 and 105 is one of the worst streets. I have to walk by it every day to get to the train and it never gets better. Sidewalk sheds add to the problem.

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Jules
Jules
2 years ago
Reply to  Asil

YES!! ” Side walk sheds are appalling!!”.. and they help to make a total mess of the whole appearance of the UWS. Seriously what happened? the whole area along Broadway looks like a total dump situated in a third world country.

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Leon
Leon
2 years ago

I’m sure I will get grief for this (if it is even published) but there are a lot of able-bodied people in NYC who receive deeply subsidized housing, discounted food, unemployment benefits, etc. How about asking them to contribute to society and work a little bit, perhaps by doing some basic neighborhood clean-up? This is basically what the Doe Fund does.

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West Side Rag
Author
West Side Rag
2 years ago
Reply to  Leon

You’re missing the key components of The Doe Fund. It PAYS people, at least minimum wage, for the street-cleaning work that they do, with benefits like case management, job development, education and skills training, and help finding permanent housing. It’s a job not a contribution.

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Leon
Leon
2 years ago
Reply to  West Side Rag

I completely understand that. The people I am referencing are getting “paid” through various subsidies in their lives – it is effectively the same thing. Those living in shelters are getting free housing, food, etc. How about they repay society for this by taking a few hours a week to clean up? WSR has constant complaints about all of the shelters in the neighborhood. If the residents of these shelters actively helped to improve the neighborhood, it would be a win-win.

If the optics of it would be better by saying “we are paying you for this, but that paycheck is going toward the cost of the housing you are receiving” then I am fine with that as well.

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Sam Katz
Sam Katz
2 years ago
Reply to  Leon

Excellent. A very FDR idea, actually. Think WPA, and National Recovery Act, etc. This is how government should work. You earn your keep and everyone wins, including the person who gets some pride and purpose back in his/her life. When prisoners are asked to train dogs behind bars, it becomes the most important thing in their lives. The Puppies Behind Bars program comes to mind — it is a great example of re-instilling self worth in someone. People lounging around sidewalks and creating issues does nothing for anyone.

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Frustrated UWS
Frustrated UWS
2 years ago
Reply to  Leon

GREAT IDEA. Just a fantastic idea.

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Neighbor785
Neighbor785
2 years ago

in the 7th district we had Mark Levine as Council member. He put in effort, from what my experience with him shows me. Shaun Abreu. I voted against him in the primary because I understood that he was supported by the NY Real Estate Board, although he said he’d refuse RE donations. He was endorsed by Levine. so, I don’t know. Can’t see what he’s accomplishing.

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TJ90
TJ90
2 years ago

Contact 311 and local offices like Dan O’Donnell’s. I’ve been so impressed by the response of both to issues in and around my block lately. These organizations need to hear from us in order to do their jobs.

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Lawrence Braverman
Lawrence Braverman
2 years ago

I love articles like this; it’s like William Burroughs’ NAKED LUNCH: to actually LOOK at what’s on the end of your fork, SEEING it, maybe for the first time and realizing: New York is a dirty city and by extension New Yorkers are dirty people.

I don’t focus on who didn’t pick it up (that’s secondary), I focus on the thoughtless herds of New York pigs who mindlessly drop it, essentially in our home, in our laps.

How many times do I see the people here drop something on the sidewalk 1 or 2 feet from a trashcan? Hundreds, maybe thousands of times. They don’t look for a trashcan, don’t see a trashcan, don’t see me. What DO they see? They’re completely asleep to civic pride, self pride, neighborhood, crime, rats…

And why don’t I say anything? Because people have been killed for less.

Sometimes I grab up this offensive trash but really, it’s trying to empty the Atlantic with a teaspoon so what do I find myself doing? Joining this motley mob of mopes: tuning out, seeing it less and less, trying to cool my jets because endless anger leads to an early grave and what’s the point of dying over displays of wet pizza boxes, aging coffee cups and cigarette butts… or are they actually instead signposts, pointing out that New York City is the one that’s dying?

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Lawrence Braverman
Lawrence Braverman
2 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Braverman

PS- I had an idea; I’ve supported a charity called The Doe Fund for a long time: transitional housing for the homeless; paid work, job training etc. perhaps you’ve seen their “men in blue” bagging up trash by the curb at various locations?

Why don’t you send these photos their way, along with the locations, maybe talk it over with them, the photographer, the West Side Rag, The Doe Fund… and if they agree to clean up those sites you can all alert the TV news departments, make a big PR project of it, have some TV cameras there, good PR for the Doe Fund (and the TV host, when the story is aired, might at the conclusion flash a graphic about contacting The Doe Fund for contributions etc.) and these eyesores get cleaned up… a win/win for everybody, right?

Don’t know why I didn’t think of it last night as I very recently sent them my end of year check; I very much appreciate such efforts to clean up my city.

Look into The Doe Fund, is also my recommendation for all the readers here rightly outraged by these photos.

17
Reply
Pepper
Pepper
2 years ago

You want to see a real hellhole? Check out the lower level of 209 W 107th St. The building should be condemned. And the Department of Sanitation does nothing about it.

0
Reply
Michael
Michael
2 years ago
Reply to  Pepper

If you get several people to file 311 complaints DSNY should respond make sure you look up the time window when the property can be fined so that they can actually do something. If you feel the garbage is caused by illegal dumping that will also help expedite. No one should be forced to put up with this amount of garbage. I have found that once you get DSNY involved they will write the tickets within the time interval they are allowed to do so.
There is an email i finally obtained that also might help. File the 311 complaint email it with photos.
actnctr1@dsny.nyc.gov

I was asked at the time who gave me the email i said Eric Grayson when he was the commissioner of DSNY maybe now state Jessica Tisch .

3
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uwsider
uwsider
2 years ago

Thanks for this. Walking around similar parts of the city to the UWS is eye opening. The streets on the UES are remarkably cleaner. Not sure what is so different there from here other than decline feeds decline and we are in a bad loop.

6
Reply
Caly
Caly
2 years ago
Reply to  uwsider

I work on the UES and building employees and work crews in jumpsuits are regularly cleaning the sidewalks early in the morning and also throughout the day. I don’t know why that’s not happening on the UWS. The same thing happens when it snows. It’s a struggle to get from my building to the bus stop or subway, yet when I get off on 86th street the streets are plowed, and not only are the sidewalks shoveled but the area around the bus stops are also cleared. How do we make that happen over here?

11
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Dana
Dana
2 years ago

If you don’t like the trash, organize yourselves! Litter Rally used to be an org in Bushwick that would blast music, dance in the streets, and clean up trash. What’s stopping you from organizing yourselves to do the same? It’s much easier to point fingers than be the source of the solution..

3
Reply
lcnyc
lcnyc
2 years ago

I’m no fan of that McDonald’s, but I don’t think they’re the biggest problem on that particular block. The far larger problem is the large vacant storefront in between McDonald’s and Ben & Jerry’s, which has been covered by a sidewalk shed for years. It has invited a rotating cast of homeless persons and sidewalk salespeople who spread all manner of junk all over the sidewalk, including chairs, tables, blankets, etc., etc. That stretch in front of the vacant storefront never gets cleaned, and the trash blows around, up and down the block. It’s disgusting.

4
Reply
MmmmK
MmmmK
2 years ago
Reply to  lcnyc

Exactly! After reading this article i sent a letter last night to Shaun Abreu and another one to the sanitation dept. about the area on the east side of Broadway and 104th. Today I saw someone cleaning up the trash and bagging it. I think it’s the responsibility of the landlord at 2720 Broadway to keep the sidewalk clean when there is no tenant. And 2720 receives lots of taxpayer money to run the building into the ground, while charging the city high rents as a homeless shelter. They obviously have no need to even try and rent out the empty space between Ben and Jerry’s and MacDoinalds. Are they just flush with cash from govt. handouts? What other building with a vacant storefront wouldn’t even try and clean up the sidewalk so they can rent the space? They are probably so flush with govt handouts that they don’t need the rent. And the scaffolding, is there actually work being done, or is this another one of those permanent scaffolds?

0
Reply
Mark D Friedman
Mark D Friedman
2 years ago

Thank you Sally! I have lived on 101st for 24 years and I agree. It’s never been this bad. The store owners need to be responsible but the city needs to step up. Lots of empty stores don’t help.

3
Reply
Majeda
Majeda
2 years ago

I’VE SEEN PEOPLE WAITING AT BUS STOPS AND LEAVING THEIR GARBAGE ON THE BENCH WHEN THEY BOARD.

6
Reply
Beryl
Beryl
2 years ago

OneBlock could use more volunteers and/or donations!

4
Reply
L. Gerson
L. Gerson
2 years ago

All of these piles of detritus are a metaphor for the state of our political situation. Years of de-funding of all basic services, such as trash pickup, housing, infrastructure, education. How about de-industrialization? Our corporate CEO’s outsourcing production, good paying jobs and destroying unions. Do I need to go on?
And, too, human beings living on the streets, like refuse.
The test of a civilized society is how it treats its most vulnerable: children, the elderly, the mentally ill. We are no longer a civilized society.
Finally, I ask what am I paying my taxes for? To fund 800 military bases all over the globe? Assist Eastern Europeans to slaughter themselves? Raise salaries for our elected officials?
So please don’t just focus on the trash on our sidewalks. It is a metaphor.

6
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Peter Purdy
Peter Purdy
2 years ago

Call 311 daily and complain. If 150 of us do it, they may put someone on it. Secondly, go into stores and tell them you won’t shop or eat there if they don’t clean up the area in front of their shops. Thee are things WE CAN DO now. Don’t just complain…ACT!

6
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Fair is Fair
Fair is Fair
2 years ago

I agree with this article. I also agee that McDonalds is the worst offender If we have allowed McDonalds the privilege of setting up shop in our neighborhoods they should be impelled, forced, and commanded to sweep in front of there shops on an hourly basis. They certainly have the Financial recourse to do so. A good neighborhood business should be a good neighbor.

1
Reply
Boris
Boris
2 years ago
Reply to  Fair is Fair

I needed a good laugh…thanks!

0
Reply
Suzanne Bonser
Suzanne Bonser
2 years ago

Agreed! and wait til it SNOWS! these will be the same businesses that refuse to shovel the sidewalk in front of their stores!

1
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Ira Gershenhorn
Ira Gershenhorn
2 years ago

On 1/4 photographed and transmitted a 311 complaint on illegal dumping 311-13033358 . My notes: “In front of Duane Reade on Broadway between 103 and 102 a pile of trash for which I requested removal.”

0
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Lynn
Lynn
2 years ago

One of my daughters who grew up a few blocks north of the stated stretch of Broadway, and now lives in North Caroline (unfortunately), says that whenever she comes to visit, she describes our area as a shantytown. The fact that Bank Street on 112th has had scaffoling for so many years does not help the garbage nor the rat situation. The overflowing garbage cans on Broadway are a big part of the problem.

5
Reply
MmmmK
MmmmK
2 years ago
Reply to  Lynn

Bank Street has been gone for years.

0
Reply
Bill B
Bill B
2 years ago

You should send this article to that other New York newspaper…

4
Reply
LN UWS
LN UWS
2 years ago

Excellent article but the line that loses it is expecting that because ppl pay a lot for their apartments they somehow “deserve” clean sidewalks. I agree with this but this is the crux of the UWS mindset that needs to change and until it does nothing will change. News flash- Residents of UES arent ashamed of what they spend on rent or how much they paid for their apartment. Or that they deserve to live with cleanliness and order. On UWS, everyone is so worried about being shunned by their too woke for words social circles and political clubs that they seethe about it under their breath or only speak out on social media under a cloak of anonymity. But when it comes time
to vote, who do they support?

5
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Lisa
Lisa
2 years ago
Reply to  LN UWS

This is not a question of which political party is representing the neighborhood. Democrats run the Upper East Side too. Yet it’s far cleaner. I wish someone would explain why we can’t get exactly the same level of service that they are.

2
Reply
Kaiser
Kaiser
2 years ago

Starbucks on 81st and Broadway always have a pile of trash left after their carting company picks up and they rarely pick it up.

1
Reply
Judith Norell
Judith Norell
2 years ago

I run Silver Moon Bakery on 105 St. & Broadway. We sweep 2-3 times a day, but sometimes people dump stuff near the City refuse bins, or little liquor bottles behind our benches at night, or when we’re not looking. Even worse is, as you said, around McDonalds. The owner of BeFitNYC has complained for years to 311, but the owners of the property, Volunteers of America, have kept the scaffolding up for, I believe, over 7 years, until recently not doing any work, and the scaffolding invites locals to sleep there, sell stuff there, dump garbage. The City, apparently, can’t or doesn’t bother to do anything about it, or is afraid to confront a non-profit organization.

18
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MmmmK
MmmmK
2 years ago
Reply to  Judith Norell

Thank you Judith. You do a fantastic job, both as a neighborhood business, and in keeping the street clean. It’s a shame that the “hotel” at 2720 has put up that permanent scaffolding without doing any work,.

0
Reply
Neighbor785
Neighbor785
2 years ago
Reply to  Judith Norell

Silver Moon rocks! You guys did our wedding cake. We still have the figurines!! (:

0
Reply
Bill S.
Bill S.
2 years ago
Reply to  Judith Norell

Thank you Judith. A pleasue to shop @ Silver Moon.

0
Reply
Harriet
Harriet
2 years ago

I remember when trash cans were part of the sitting areas along Broadway .

Perhaps they could be brought back and perhaps people would use them again.

2
Reply
Linda
Linda
2 years ago

NYC law MANDATES that business and property owners keep their sidewalks clean , including the curb!

2
Reply
Jake
Jake
2 years ago

Former NY’er who left during COVID. Can’t wait to come back…yuck! Good luck – hope there are no rats!

0
Reply
Neutral Observer
Neutral Observer
2 years ago

No one is stopping anyone from cleaning up their own streets and sidewalks. You can beech-n-blame or you can help. I cleaned my block and as many blocks as I could handle through most of the pandemic as part of my exercise, post-pneumonia. No one joined me. And, the last time I tried to post something about this, I was censored.

Last edited 2 years ago by Neutral Observer
0
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