Recently Councilman Greenfield sat down with the new Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia to tackle the biggest traffic issue Boro Park faces – trash pick-up. Community Board 12 Chairman Yidel Perlstein and District Manager Barry Spitzer also participated in the meeting to attest firsthand to the great need to address this problem. The morning traffic congestion in Boro Park is terrible, and it is simply caused by overcrowding. There are too many cars, school buses and garbage trucks on the road in the morning. Councilman Greenfield met with the Commissioner to review the situation and brainstorm to see if there were any solutions available such as adjusting trash pick-up times. The Commissioner pledged to study the trash pick-up routes in Boro Park to see if an adjustment can be made, such as creating ‘through-streets’ where no pick up will occur during the morning that motorists can use to avoid garbage trucks.
“The morning congestion in Boro Park is even worse than rush hour in Manhattan. It would be a huge victory for the community for Sanitation to agree to change their pick-ups even on a few streets and reduce traffic. My thanks to Commissioner Garcia for hearing our concerns, and I look forward to implementing her suggestions to improve the situation,” said Councilman David Greenfield.
“Traffic is the biggest quality of life issue we face in Boro Park. We had a productive conversation with Commissioner Garcia, and I feel confident that she will work to come up with a solution to the morning garbage pick-up that will alleviate our morning traffic,” said Yidel Perlstein, Chairman of Community Board 12.
Many people, including Councilman Greenfield, have suggested moving trash pick up to later in the day to allow residents and school buses to get to work and school on time. Councilman Greenfield met with former-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. DSNY aims to present Greenfield with a plan to reduce traffic congestion in the early part of 2015.
While it is unlikely that DSNY will be able to push all trash collection to later in the day because of union negotiated working hours, one of the key suggestions that Greenfield has is ‘through streets.’ The idea is that several blocks in Boro Park should have no sanitation pick up during rush hour. These blocks would run from McDonald Avenue to Fort Hamilton allowing a ‘through-street’ through Boro Park that everyone could use to get in, out and through Boro Park reducing traffic on these blocks.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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8 Responses
a true ‘through street’ would not have school busses either
the cause of the problem is school buses stopping on each block, every other neighborhood in NYC is just fine.
If the 66th Precinct would no longer extend the courtesy of allowing illegal double parking during street cleaning people would get rid of unecessary vehicles and traffic would move faster. The Yeshivot should establish a policy of one stop per block for their private school busses rather than the many stops on each block. The electeds should also explore other options for school busses that are perhaps narrower and more agile as well as less polluting. And that bakery on 15th Avenue with the double parked trucks should be relocated to an industrial zone. possibly with tax incentives
its funny all the 3 commentors including myself have identified the core issue, SCHOOL BUSES, not garbage trucks maybe David, Yidel and Berel should work with the yeshivas on this. Can you imagine garbage waiting around all day in the hot months?
by yaakov doe;
You said very well, I will add to your comment. The sanitation is doing their best job ever and trying very hard to keep our Boro Park streets clean, BUT, these school buses is making a disaster of a traffic, why? Because you have on each block 3-4 buses like 2 from Sarmar, 2 from Bobov, 1 From Pupa and so one, theyake stops for every 2nd house to pick up a child that’s not even ready and they honk like crazy. My question is why can’t this mother wait with her neighbor ( and yes say good morning and hi to your neighbor) for the same bus and save a stop?! This is ridicules how many stops they do on 1block the same school bus! And to prove it that the problem is more our buses, see when there is no garbage pick up. I’m asking the politicians involved in this matter PLEASE look at our bus system and educate the parents to pool up with their good neighbors and to have ready the kids, not that the bus gets there and the hunk starts, the kid is still running with the bowl of cereal and then the mother still need to put on for them their coats.
You guys are wrong. True, there are lots of buses, but it’s the garbage trucks that create the traffic mess. I walked down 50th Street today and one garbage truck had cause traffic to be backed up two whole avenue blocks!!
If C”V a tragedy were to occur with a child waiting on a corner, then you’ll have posters here yelling why don’t the buses pick the children up from their houses.
When you have boys and girls going on different buses, and sometimes brothers going to different yeshivas from each other or different sisters to different beis yaakovs, and each one on a different corner at the same time…
LET THE GARBAGE BE COLLECTED AFTER 7 OR 8PM