Deutsch’s Do-ers Clean Up Avenue U As Part Of Larger Anti-Trash Initiative


by on Aug 19th, 2014

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Councilman Chaim Deutsch hosted his second community cleanup on Sunday, with volunteers turning out to sweep the sidewalks and gutters of Avenue U between Nostrand Avenue and Coney Island Avenue.

Dozens turned out, including volunteers from Homecrest Community Services and local schools like Sheepshead Bay High School and Midwood High School.

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The clean-up came on the heels of the announcement that Deutsch had secured $68,000 for additional litter basket pickups on Avenue U and Sheepshead Bay Road, increasing pickups to five times a week on each strip. It’s also two weeks after a Sheepshead Bay Road cleanup.

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The pol acknowledged that cleanups only go so far, and that often the streets are filthy again within days. But he said it’s about creating awareness, and showing would-be litter bugs that their neighbors are putting in the effort.

“It’s not just a clean-up,” he said. “We don’t want to waste anybody’s time. So it’s an ongoing effort.”

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Aside from the funding and the cleanups, Deutsch’s team and volunteers have been passing out fliers in various languages to neighbors, letting them know that public bins are not meant for residential garbage.

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He said that the Sanitation Department is also ramping up enforcement at his request, with overnight stakeouts of public bins happening on several nights on Avenue U and Sheepshead Bay Road. Those caught dumping at the public bins are issued hefty fines.

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The pol said the biggest struggle is with businesses, who due to language barriers don’t always understand that local laws require them to keep the sidewalks in front of their stores clean.

“We’re reaching out to all the stores to get them to comply with the local laws,” he said. “A lot of times, it’s just a language barrier, and once we get through that we see they make the effort.”

 

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  • joe

    It’s funny on this site that whenever there is a negative article about trash or crime people put a bunch of comments complaining about the mayor, the city, the neighborhood etc.. However when their is a positive story like this one the comments section is usually quite

    • Alex

      Welcome to Brooklyn, my friend.
      Everyone is cranky, angry and stressed out.

  • Pizza guy

    I agree with Joe. As positive people, we should embrace positive news. Thank you Councilman Deutsch for taking the initiative and cleaning up our neighborhood!

  • J

    As someone who walks down Sheepshead Bay Road every day (often with my 9 month old baby) I certainly appreciate any clean up efforts that the councilman is spearheading. I do think, though, that we need to continue to hold him and other community leaders accountable for making sure that our neighborhood is kept clean and that we are getting the sanitation services that we need. We are fortunate enough to live in an urban area that is also near a beautiful bay and beach and it is shameful that the streets are so often so dirty. Hopefully residents will keep the cleanup effort in mind and pressure irresponsible businesses and landlords to keep the streets clean so that we can all enjoy our neighborhood.

  • Marc B

    Thank you for this effort, now how about cleaning up Emmons Avenue’ median (between Nostrand and Knapp Street). This area is a complete mess !

  • Lena

    In Russian we say “Clean place is not where people clean, but where people do not litter”. Cleaning effort is a great idea, I think. For many reasons, and one of them is to teach people how to take care of the neighborhood. Thank you, councilmen Deutsch for your effort. The cleaning initiative is one of many good things councilmen does. We are blessed to have an elected official who does not promise positive change, but really working on it.

  • DeleteMe

    Delete this too !!