Jewish News™
#NYC Ending Most Daytime Trash Collection in #BoroughPark http://hamodia.com/2016/03/06/hamodia-exclusive-nyc-ending-most-daytime-trash-collection-in-boro-park/
#DovHikinds campaign promise, finally delivered
BROOKLYN - Tackling Boro Park’s biggest traffic problem, Mayor #BilldeBlasio is announcing a shift of sanitation collections from the morning rush hour to the wee hours of the night, which will remove 79 percent of the garbage trucks prowling the neighborhood.
The arrangement, which will go into effect on April 4, will go a long way in solving a jam decades in the making but which has increasingly taken on a crisis magnitude. The number of school buses roaring down the fewer than three square miles which makes up Boro Park has more than doubled since a 2011 law allowed most yeshivos to purchase their own fleet.
The mayor is scheduled to announce the changes Sunday night at a dinner in Boro Park for the Bobover mosdos.
“Our administration is committed to working for our neighborhoods — in Borough Park and across the city,” de Blasio said in a statement to Hamodia, using an alternative spelling to the Orthodox-heavy neighborhood. “That means responding to community needs while providing vital services in an effective and timely way.”
“Borough Park families know too well the congestion on our streets every morning when hundreds of school buses encounter sanitation trucks,” added the mayor, who represented parts of the neighborhood in the city council from 2002 until 2010. “After hearing from families, we were able to find a win-win solution that will get kids to school on time and ensure trash and recycling is picked up effectively, all while avoiding the frustration of overcrowded streets.”
The deal has been in the works for months but its implementation was delayed since the mayor himself was involved and wanted to personally make the announcement.
The area covered by the agreement, Sanitation Commission #KathrynGarcia said in a telephone conversation on Sunday, extends from 8th Ave. to 18th Ave. and from 46th St. until 61st St. It involves rescheduling the times for recycling pickups from the 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. morning shift to the overnight shift, which begins at midnight and ends at 8 a.m. Residents may still take out their garbage the night before.
“We were focused on the area that’s been identified in the community as problematic from a traffic point of view,” said Garcia, who visited Boro Park last year to see the issue from up close. “The elected [officials] identified an area where they felt was significantly impacted by the garbage truck and buses situation. In order to try and mitigate it, we’ve come up with a plan that will move some of our trucks to overnight rather than during the day and switching the collection days.”
Garcia said that some trucks must remain during the day but motorists will notice a drastic change when it goes into effect next month.
“We can’t move all the trucks because of constrains on our fleet and on our personnel,” she said. “But we believe that in this particular area it will go down from about 82 trucks per week to 17 — during the day.”
Garcia recalled her visit, along with elected officials such as Assemblyman #DovHikind and Councilman #DavidGreenfield. She saw how a single sanitation vehicle, on 15th Ave. and 50th St. was causing a traffic backup all the way to 13th Avenue.
She marveled at how many school buses Boro Park has, ferrying approximately 50,000 children to school every day.
“There were buses everywhere,” Garcia wondered. “I’ve never seen that many buses. I was pretty astounded. The number of buses is significantly higher than in the rest of the city.”
While some concern was noted of having noise–emitting trucks in middle of the night, elected officials and community groups praised the mayor’s initiative.
#BeriWolner, who founded the #BusTransitAssociation last year to advocate on behalf of yeshivah bus drivers in Boro Park, said that “for the traffic problem this is the best thing that can happen.”
“It’s definitely going to be a big help for the community,” said Wolner, who has since moved on to work at property management but still remains involved in bus driver advocacy.
BROOKLYN - Tackling Boro Park’s biggest traffic problem, Mayor #BilldeBlasio is announcing a shift of sanitation collections from the morning rush hour to the wee hours of the night, which will remove 79 percent of the garbage trucks prowling the neighborhood.
The arrangement, which will go into effect on April 4, will go a long way in solving a jam decades in the making but which has increasingly taken on a crisis magnitude. The number of school buses roaring down the fewer than three square miles which makes up Boro Park has more than doubled since a 2011 law allowed most yeshivos to purchase their own fleet.
The mayor is scheduled to announce the changes Sunday night at a dinner in Boro Park for the Bobover mosdos.
“Our administration is committed to working for our neighborhoods — in Borough Park and across the city,” de Blasio said in a statement to Hamodia, using an alternative spelling to the Orthodox-heavy neighborhood. “That means responding to community needs while providing vital services in an effective and timely way.”
“Borough Park families know too well the congestion on our streets every morning when hundreds of school buses encounter sanitation trucks,” added the mayor, who represented parts of the neighborhood in the city council from 2002 until 2010. “After hearing from families, we were able to find a win-win solution that will get kids to school on time and ensure trash and recycling is picked up effectively, all while avoiding the frustration of overcrowded streets.”
The deal has been in the works for months but its implementation was delayed since the mayor himself was involved and wanted to personally make the announcement.
The area covered by the agreement, Sanitation Commission #KathrynGarcia said in a telephone conversation on Sunday, extends from 8th Ave. to 18th Ave. and from 46th St. until 61st St. It involves rescheduling the times for recycling pickups from the 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. morning shift to the overnight shift, which begins at midnight and ends at 8 a.m. Residents may still take out their garbage the night before.
“We were focused on the area that’s been identified in the community as problematic from a traffic point of view,” said Garcia, who visited Boro Park last year to see the issue from up close. “The elected [officials] identified an area where they felt was significantly impacted by the garbage truck and buses situation. In order to try and mitigate it, we’ve come up with a plan that will move some of our trucks to overnight rather than during the day and switching the collection days.”
Garcia said that some trucks must remain during the day but motorists will notice a drastic change when it goes into effect next month.
“We can’t move all the trucks because of constrains on our fleet and on our personnel,” she said. “But we believe that in this particular area it will go down from about 82 trucks per week to 17 — during the day.”
Garcia recalled her visit, along with elected officials such as Assemblyman #DovHikind and Councilman #DavidGreenfield. She saw how a single sanitation vehicle, on 15th Ave. and 50th St. was causing a traffic backup all the way to 13th Avenue.
She marveled at how many school buses Boro Park has, ferrying approximately 50,000 children to school every day.
“There were buses everywhere,” Garcia wondered. “I’ve never seen that many buses. I was pretty astounded. The number of buses is significantly higher than in the rest of the city.”
While some concern was noted of having noise–emitting trucks in middle of the night, elected officials and community groups praised the mayor’s initiative.
#BeriWolner, who founded the #BusTransitAssociation last year to advocate on behalf of yeshivah bus drivers in Boro Park, said that “for the traffic problem this is the best thing that can happen.”
“It’s definitely going to be a big help for the community,” said Wolner, who has since moved on to work at property management but still remains involved in bus driver advocacy.