03/05/2013 11:15 PM
[h1]
Trashing Jamaica: Resident Fights To Clean Garbage Out Of Neighborhood[/h1]
By:
Ruschell Boone
Jamaica has a garbage problem, and while many residents have simply turned their noses up at the issue, some are expressing their outrage. In Part 2 of her week-long look at the issue, NY1's Ruschell Boone turns her focus on a resident who is trying to get the city to clean up his neighborhood.
NY1 has told you about the garbage problem in and around around 107th Avenue, but Joe Moretti said if you head north to 89th Avenue, the streets are filthy there, too.
"Look at this," Moretti said, showing NY1 one building in the area. "This is totally disgusting. You're tripping over garbage."
Moretti said he has written numerous emails to city and local officials about several trash problems in the neighborhood, and posted pictures of them online, but the mess keeps piling up.
"This is a major violation right here," he said. "Now, will they get ticketed for this? I don't know."
But while he was fuming about the garbage, another man said we should take a look next door, where someone was dumping in the backyard.
The tenants said they didn't know where the trash came from and the landlord doesn't live here, which is very common in the area.
The man who owns the house next door said the trash has attracted rodents.
"The rats go in on my property," he said.
After seeing this mess, Moretti sent what he called a nasty email to local leaders and the Department of Sanitation. Some have characterized his emails as out of line because he often uses profanity.
"All that garbage you saw in the front of that building on the sidewalk, all the garbage you see here in Jamaica, that is out of line," Moretti said. "That is why my emails are out of line, because this is all out of line and nobody is doing anything about it.
But there has been an effort by some in the community to clean up specific locations. Moretti himself has been alerting the city and the media about problematic areas, and NY1 has done a number of stories about the garbage. But he said that is not enough.
Moretti wants a permanent solution. In the meantime, the Department of Sanitation issued a summons to the owner of the house and another apartment building in the area. It's the building's fourth in the last six months.
Attempts to reach the owners of both properties were unsuccessful.
[h1]
Trashing Jamaica: Neighbors Point To Many Reasons For Area's Garbage Build-Up[/h1]
By:
Ruschell Boone
here is trash and mounds of garbage in many people's yards and on the streets of the Jamaica section of Queens, but in this third part of her week-long series, borough reporter Ruschell Boone spoke with residents on why the area has this problem.
They walk by it every day, but it is clear many in the Jamaica section of Queens are not affected by the garbage that surrounds them.
"I'm not the one that's dropping it," one local said.
A local business owner, however, told NY1 he is fed up with cleaning up the garbage in front of his storefront.
"It is frustrating to clean up someone else's garbage," he said.
The district manager for the community board did not know where the trash came from, but he said there are a number of reasons for the pile-up, including the high number of illegal apartments and absentee landlords.
Those tenants often dump their trash elsewhere to avoid detection and landlords often live miles away from their property.
Yvonne Reddick, who has lived in the community for decades, said, "These absentee landlords need to make sure that their tenant is placing the garbage out correctly."
Reddick said many of the newer residents are not storing and discarding their garbage correctly either.
"We have an extremely diverse community. Some of our neighbors have to be educated as to how to put their garbage out," Reddick said.
The Department Of Sanitation says it is working on a community outreach program to address all of these issues.
Through a statement, the agency says, "We have been meeting regularly with local groups, such as the local Business Improvement District, for outreach purposes and to gain their support. We will
continue to enforce the laws and work with the neighbors to resolve sanitation issues."
Reddick said one of those resolutions may have to come in the form of new street cleaning rules. Right now, residents are responsible for cleaning their property up to 18 inches from the curb and the Department Of Sanitation does the rest.
Alternate side of the street parking would give sanitation officials an opportunity to better clean the streets, but some residents do not like the idea because it would require them to begin moving their cars, which many are not doing at this time.