Following a yearly tradition, Community Board 12 met last week with New York City’s Fire, Sanitation and Police Departments, along with community leaders, organizations and elected officials, to go over plans in anticipation of the upcoming Pesach Holiday.
These meetings serve to plan extra city services that help clean up our community before the holiday, ensure that the community is safe throughout the holiday, to notify the community about the special sanitation pickup schedule and the bread burning and sanitation container locations, and, most importantly, that serious injuries are avoided during Sreifes Chumets.
“I am very excited about the new and improved changes we’ve made to the sreifas chumets event this year and I’m confident that this will increase the safety and cleanliness in our district as well as relieving some pressure from the fire and sanitation departments for them to be able to focus on delivering vital services to our community in a much more efficient manner,” said Chairman Yidel Perlstein. “I would like to thank the community leaders and city officials for being willing to think out of the box and always being ready to improve on our goals of servicing the community,” added Perlstein.
“I would like to thank all the city agencies, organizations and elected officials for taking part in this important meeting. It is only because of their hard work and dedication that Erev Pesach has become a day that the community can safely practice their religious customs. I especially would like to commend the fire and sanitation departments who spend countless hours and resources ensuring that the community gets to celebrate a joyous holiday. Also, a special thanks to our partners in the Police Department, Shomrim, Hatzolah and Chaveirim who serve a vital role in keeping everyone safe,” said District Manager Barry Spitzer.
“Pesach is another opportunity for New York City to show how much it values our community,” said Councilman Kalman Yeger. “The Fire Department helps us perform sraifas chometz safely and respectfully, the Police Department provides extra personnel to keep us secure, and the Sanitation Department helps us clean for Pesach efficiently. I’m grateful to District Manager Spitzer, Chairman Perlstein and all of Community Board 12 for ensuring that the City provides these services to help make Yom Tov preparations a bit easier.”
Leading the FDNY delegation was Brooklyn Borough Commander, Chief Wayne Cartwright, who was joined by Staten Island Borough Commander, Chief Richard Howe; 48 Battalion Chief Joseph Duggan; Division 8 Commander, Chief Brian Gorman; Captain Michael Doda of Ladder Company 148; Captain Jack Halaby of Engine 282 and Lieutenant Ryan Frontera from Engine 247. Joining them from the Department of Sanitation was Assistant Chief Andrew Pugliese; Deputy Chief Mike Carolan; Deputy Chief of Sanitation Enforcement Desmond McNamee; Bk12 Superintendent Tommy Lincoln and Supervisor John Venditti. The 66th Precinct’s Commanding Officer, Inspector David Wall and Community Affairs Officer Tommy Kukla attended on behalf of the NYPD. Also in attendance was Yidel Schonfeld from Councilman Kalman Yeger’s office, Gabi Friedlander from Councilman Brad Lander’s office, Chesky Klein from Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s office and Joseph Langsam from Senator Simcha Felder’s office. Representing the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit was Senior Liaison Pinny Ringel. Representing the organizations who lead the coordination and safety of the events was Yanky Daskal, Motty Katz and Simcha Bernath Coordinators of Shomrim and Chaim Fleischer Coordinator of Chaveirim, who is in-charge of planning and site selection. Additionally, taking a lead role was Rabbi Jack Mayer, founder of Misaskim and Rabbi Berish Freilich, Senior Community Liaison.
Following is some important information from the items that were discussed at the meeting:
Bread Burning Schedule: In an ever increasing effort to maximize safety and cleanliness in the community, some changes were made this year for sreifes chumets. Community Board 12 had in the past gotten complaints that some sites were unsupervised with children getting too close to the fire and sometimes the fire becoming too large and out of control that the fire department has to be sent to extinguish it. Additionally, although the department of sanitation does an excellent job cleaning the sites, we’ve still gotten complaints of half burnt chumets being left over on the street, the smell lingering over Yom Tov and the street staying black and dirty long after Pesach. To that end, Community Board 12 along with community leaders have decided to implement a new and innovative idea to use dumpsters at all sreifes chumets sites and to minimize the amount of sites currently allocated. This will ensure that no site is left unsupervised, that the fire doesn’t get too large and out of control and that each site remains clean.
Bread burning will occur on Friday, March 30. All bread burning must be completed by 11:45 am. For the safety of our community, the Fire Department will strictly enforce this 11:45 curfew.
A complete list of approved fire sites is attached. The fire sites will be supervised by volunteers of Shomrim and Chaveirim; please follow their instructions. Please be advised that the police and fire departments will absolutely not allow any unsanctioned fires or fires on the street and not in the dumpster. The police and fire departments will be on the lookout for any of these fires and will extinguish them immediately. We are asking the community to please be considerate and take into account the hard work and great expense it took to set this up and cooperate fully with this new system.
As required, only Chumetz should be burned. Everyone is cautioned not to throw in any flammable or combustible items or chumetz enclosed in silver wrap. We also advise that no paint thinners, aerosol cans, sprays, lighter fluid or any other flammable liquids are to be used to ignite the fire and of course not thrown into it. These items have caused serious accidents in the past and are extremely dangerous. We have seen in previous years that people throw in all types of garbage into the fire. These items are not required to be burned. The Department of Sanitation provides dumpsters for this purpose and the community is asked to use them.
Water or fire extinguishers should be readily available at the site of the bread burning.
Following these simple rules will insure the safety of our loved ones during this holiday as well as make collections easier and faster.
Sanitation Pickup Schedule: Sanitation is already picking up bulk items throughout this entire week until Erev Pesach on Friday, March 30. The Sanitation Department is asking everyone who has bulk items to start placing them out for collection as early as possible. “The Sanitation trucks fill up quickly, especially as it gets closer to Pesach. The last thing you want is a stained, broken armchair still on the lawn when your seder guests arrive,” added Councilman Yeger.
The entire district will get a recycling pickup on bedikas chumetz night. The recycling will start being picked up Thursay, March 29th, going into Friday morning, starting at 12:00 am till 8:00 am. All residents are asked to please put out their recycling and regular garbage on Thursday night. On Friday, March 30, the entire district will get a regular garbage pickup and that will start at 6:00 in the morning until the entire district is picked up. Should someone have a missed pickup please do not hesitate to call our office at 718-851-0800.
Additional trucks are being brought in for this entire week to help the Sanitation Department clear all the additional garbage that is being put out. As an added benefit, the Sanitation Department will be cleaning certain major commercial strips in the district, every night this week from 12:00am to 8:00am, using MLPs (Motor Litter Patrols) and heavy duty blowers.
Sanitation Enforcement cautioned that all bulk items and cardboard boxes should be tied up and placed out neatly. All mattresses and box springs must be entirely wrapped, preferably in a store bought bed bug bag or in plastic. If a mattress or box spring is placed out without being wrapped, Sanitation will not collect them and a fine of $100 may be issued. Electronic items will not be picked up by the Sanitation Department and a $100 fine may be issued if put out. All electronic items should be brought to the local garage on 19th Avenue and 56th Street. Florescent light bulbs should not be placed out for collection but should be brought to the sanitation garage as well. Appliances such as freezers, refrigerators, air conditioners, water coolers, or dehumidifiers cannot be discarded or recycled without removal of refrigerants (CFC/Freon). Residents, agencies, and institutions who receive DSNY service must schedule an appointment to place appliance(s) out at the curb for CFC recovery and recycling; call 311 or visit nyc.gov/dsny.
Large appliances that do not contain refrigerants such as ovens, washers, and dryers can be placed out as bulk recycling.
Try to leave driveways clear so that Sanitation workers can retrieve bulk and/or garbage quickly and efficiently. Please do not double park cars. At all times, regular garbage must be separated from recyclables and put out in proper fashion.
Sanitation will provide dumpsters at designated sites for additional garbage drop-off. A list of these container locations and burn sites is being published along with this press release.
Community Safety: As they do on every major holiday, the NYPD will be deploying additional resources to ensure the community’s safety. Shomer Shabbos on 53rd Street and 13th Avenue and Veretzky (Landau’s Shul) on Avenue L and East 9th Street will have round-the-clock police coverage starting at 6:45 pm on Friday Erev Yom Tov till 9:00 pm Sunday night and from 6:45 pm Thursday Erev Shevii Shel Pesach till 10:00 pm Motzei Yom Tov. Please feel free to approach these police officers with any issues.
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One Response
Did the planning of locations consider the spots that were used the past several years? I see several spots not listed, and I would bet that residents of those blocks will take for granted that they can burn their chometz there. Then start problems.