Mess Of The Week: 63rd and Bay Parkway Revisited

We revisited last week’s mess and noticed right away that the trash can was nowhere near full. It appears that sanitation workers made a point of emptying it this morning, as well as carting away any over-sized pieces of litter that had collected over the weekend.

Which brings us to this week’s mess, which I thought of after examining the above photo. Would you call this corner clean?

A major problem in Bensonhurst, as well as New York City on the whole, is the state of our streets- simply put, they’re almost never truly clean. The old timers out there may remember when, not all that long ago, store owners and sanitation workers could regularly be seen cleaning our streets and sidewalks of grime. Today, the streets of Southern Brooklyn are probably the filthiest they’ve been since paved asphalt and the automobile replaced dirt roads and horses in the 1920’s.

There are many reasons for this. Under-staffing at the Department of Sanitation, increased littering, population growth, exponentially increased water rates and calls for water conservation have all contributed to decidedly dirtier streets and less accountability for building owners, businesses and the city.

Perhaps the fire hydrant sprinklers that the FDNY makes available in the summer could be put to additional use? Business owners and landlords could use hose attachments to rinse off sidewalks and gutters during the notoriously stinky summertime without having to worry about higher water bills.

Just some food for thought from someone who’s tired of nearly losing his lunch.

I’m optimistic that we can drastically reduce filth and litter, not to mention the noxious odors emanating from our streets and sidewalks. All it will take is to make a big enough stink about it…