Councilman Greenfield is continuing the fight against the traffic congestion that plagues Boro Park that he started when he was first elected to office four years ago. Each morning hundreds of motorists are delayed on their way to shul or work because the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) does its trash pickup at the same time as many yeshiva school buses are picking up children for the school day. Having both garbage trucks and school buses on the road at the same time while doing their lengthy pickups means drivers are stuck with big delays traveling the residential streets of Boro Park.

Councilman Greenfield met with then-Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty in 2010 to work on solutions to this issue. Unfortunately the Sanitation Department was not willing to make the necessary changes. When Mayor de Blasio was elected to office, Greenfield met with top officials in his administration who promised to take a second look at the issue. Greenfield received a call from DSNY officials this week that it is in middle of a thorough examination of all its garbage truck routes and how they conflict with local school busing. DSNY is studying ways to make adjustments and hopes to have suggestions by the new year. DSNY will also be having conversations with union officials to ensure that they support of these changes which may require their approval.
“The amount of traffic that we have in Boro Park every morning is a disaster. I am thankful that under Mayor de Blasio’s leadership the Sanitation Department is now willing to reopen this matter and look for a solution. I also thank Senator Felder for being the first in our community to work on this issue when he was in the Council a decade ago and Assemblyman Hikind for his recent support, as well. As a united community, we have greater odds than ever of being successful,” said Councilman Greenfield.

“Boro Park faces no bigger quality of life problem than its traffic. My thanks to our elected officials for tackling this issue head-on and I look forward to hearing from the Department of Sanitation on possible solutions to our daily morning congestion,” said Yidel Perlstein, Chairman of Community Board 12.

The morning traffic in Boro Park has now become city-wide news. Just this past week, the New York Daily News ran a story on chronic traffic titled “Borough Park clogged with yeshiva buses due to increasing number of vehicles and schools.” The Daily News cited Councilman Greenfield’s long-time advocacy on this issue and quoted the Councilman as explaining, “The Sanitation Department needs to take garbage trucks off the road from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. to allow school buses to safely deliver children to school.”

(YWN Desk – NYC)