It's garbage night! (rather, illegal dumping night!)

I apologize for the lousy quality photos, but they were taken at night with a cell phone camera. Thanks to the DSNY, these items were gone when I went by this morning-- they must have picked them up the same night I called in the complaint to 311; thank you DSNY!!

 

We hadn't experienced dumping on 43rd Avenue in weeks. I optimistically/stupidly thought that perhaps my obsessive litter-collecting, and the Woodside Neighborhood Association's wonderful work here last month, sent the message to would-be miscreants that this block is no longer being ignored and that residents will not tolerate dumping, litter, and graffiti. Well, my stroll down 43rd last night was a slap in the face times three: there was plenty of litter (despite the fact that I had picked up every piece of litter on both Saturday and Sunday), and also dumping and graffiti. Great.

311 Complaint called in 11/24/14 circa 8:30pm: 201-ML-MA-06385; picked up by early the next morning (thank you DSNY!!).

11/24/14: mattress dumped on 43rd Avenue



11/24/14: small pile of hymnals dumped on 43rd Avenue

11/24/14: close-up of a hymnal



 



11/24/14: pile of VHS tapes dumped on 43rd Avenue
(blank tapes that were used to record shows from TV, eg, "1988 Olympics"--
but who really knows what was on these tapes?)
 



11/24/14: The neater stack of the VHS collection
 that some kind soul donated to the sidewalk of 43rd Avenue.
Thanks!

 

No Trashcan For You!

 

 



How do you break a garbage can?
For whatever reason,
 this subway can was taken out of service.

Yesterday I was asked why I think litter/general filth is such a big problem in this area. The short answer is: there's a whole lotta people and not enough public trash receptacles. Anyone exiting the Roosevelt Avenue station can see that this is a very densely populated area. Besides the people who actually live here, this area also has many folks passing through at all hours of the day and night. The Roosevelt Avenue train station is a major transfer hub for people traveling to and from JFK and LaGuardia. In addition, there is a huge city hospital just a few blocks away. And of course there are some well known bars and restaurants along Roosevelt and Woodside that attract people from other neighborhoods and boroughs (don't get me started on the omnipresent line of hipsters outside Ayada; if you find an empty pack of yellow American Spirits, it was probably dropped by one of them...just kidding...well, not really). So yeah, there are a lot of people here. And people produce trash. And we need a place to dispose of this trash.

 

Why then are there hardly any public trash cans??

 

I believe there are a couple cans along Roosevelt Avenue right near the train exits. But we need a can on every corner of Roosevelt, Broadway, and Woodside Avenues.

 

Someone told me that the city took away many of the public trash cans because people kept using them for household trash disposal. I guess the oh-so-brilliant people who control can distribution figured that if they took away public garbage receptacles, people would realize the error of their ways, stop taking advantage of the public garbage cans, and, uh, wave a magic wand to make their excess trash disappear-? I know it's a burden on the city to have to clean up after people who dump their household trash in public cans, but taking away the cans doesn't stop this practice. Obviously folks still dispose of their garbage improperly, only instead of in cans, they leave it right on the sidewalks and streets and on seemingly deserted stretches of land like 43rd Avenue.

Taking away public garbage cans does nothing to deter inappropriate disposal of household trash; all it does is punish the people who live/work/pass through the neighborhood by forcing us to endure filthy conditions.

 

Please, New York City, please please please with sugar (or that white powder in the drug baggie that I found on 43rd Ave this morning) on top: Please bring back public trash cans!!! We in Elmhurst and Woodside pay taxes too, just like those fancy people in Manhattan and Brooklyn who have a plethora of public garbage cans. We don't deserve to live in squalor. Please stop punishing an entire neighborhood because of the errors (ie, improper trash disposal) of a few.

 

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Last week I wrote about the stupidity of having 2 recycling bins but no (or one small and overflowing) garbage can in front of the Queens Center Mall. This past weekend, I saw that someone had taken it upon him- or herself to provide the public with a trash container. T'was in the form of a broken plastic crate, but people recognized it as an adequate trash receptacle and proceeded to throw their trash in (or in the general vicinity of) it. So thank you, oh kind neighbor/illegal-dumper! (Hey, at the risk of sounding selfish, I'm just relieved that this plastic crate didn't end up on 43rd so I don't have to deal with it myself.)

 

 

UPDATE: Friday morn (11/14/14). This morning I saw a couple of Doe Fund workers picking up litter near Roosevelt and 74th Street!! Woohoo!! Thanks Danny D (or whoever arranged for this service). And thank you to the men and women of the Doe Fund who got stuck in this neighborhood. I know that Roosevelt and 74th offers a gross amount and variety of street debris. On behalf of my neighbors and myself, thank you- your work is very very very much appreciated!


UPDATE #2 (11/19/14). I passed this pan-in-a-can in Manhattan, and I immediately thought of this blog post. To the person who decides whether residents are worthy of having trash cans in their busy commercial areas: So there are hardly any trash cans on uber-busy Roosevelt and Woodside Avenues because we use them to dispose of our household trash? Well, at the risk of sounding as puerile as you think I am, I ask, **"How come Manhattanites get to throw out household trash in city cans and still get a can on nearly every corner?! It's not fair!!" [**read this to yourself in the most high-pitched whiney voice possible, with stamping-foot accompaniment]



Upper East Side of Manhattan

Police release sketch of man whose body was found in the 43rd Avenue lot

I was very happy to finally find an update to the case of the person whose body parts were found in bags in the 43rd Avenue lot* back in April. Brief background: a homeless man collecting cans in the area found a bag with body parts; he called the 5-0, who subsequently found a few more bags. (*I'm actually not sure if the bags were found in the lot itself or along the tracks that border it, or both; all I know is when the discovery was made, for 2 days I saw police/OCME folks going in and out of the lot.)

Obviously this case is sad and horrific beyond comprehension. And since this discovery was made on my territory (the lot is the epicenter of neighborhood littering/dumping so I always have cleanup to do around there), it is very close to my heart. I always think of the person when I'm working on 43rd Avenue. I have been checking the OCME's online listing of unidentified bodies in NAMUS since April, but the latest Queens listing was from 2012. I had feared that this case was deemed hopeless and already filed away in a dusty precinct basement. Thus, I was very grateful to see the update (release of sketch) today. I hope this man can be identified and given a proper burial by his loved ones.

Police sketch of the gentleman whose body was found in the 43rd Ave lot in April

Up until now, the only thing the public knew was that body parts including a skull with some hair were found. This week, the police released additional details including the fact that the victim was male, white, and approximately 30 years old. They also released 4 sketches.

It would also be helpful to find out his height and his estimated date of death, and whether any jewelry or clothing were found. Maybe those details are forthcoming. I wonder if these were skeletonized remains. I walked by the lot every day and never noticed a smell.

**I also wonder what else is in the lot. From what I can see through the cracks in the fence, the weeds are about 4 feet high, as are the garbage piles. How do the authorities know that there aren't more clues in there, or, God forbid, more bodies?!!

Sorry, I'm getting carried away (though I think I make a valid, albeit crazy-sounding, point).

If you recognize this man, and/or have information about the murder, please call 1-800-577-TIPS or submit your tip online.

For the more pecuniarily motivated folks: you can receive up to $2000 if your tip leads to arrest/indictment (read the details on the CrimeStoppers web site). Tips can be anonymous.

Please, if you know anything about this man, call CrimeStoppers.


3:40pm: I just checked NAMUS; the case report is now up!!!https://identifyus.org/en/cases/full_report/13060

According to the NAMUS report, his height was estimated to be 5'8. Condition of body was "near complete or complete skeleton" (hence the lack of decomp odor on 43rd?). His age was actually between 20 and 30 years. Race/ethnicity was either White or Hispanic.
 or Hispanic. And estimated interval between date of death and

 

 

If you google the GPS coordinates that are included in the NAMUS report, a picture of this fence comes up! So I guess that at least some of the bags were found in here, and others along the hill leading to the railroad tracks-?

The lot (pre-October-paintjob).

Arrow points to the spot where people tend to leave their piles of commercial/household/personal refuse.
Also, you can sort of see where the lot-garbage seeps out under the fence- yum!

 

"Sometimes I feel discouraged"

I like to believe that what I do (pick up litter, call 311 to report dumping, and maintain this whiney log of neighborhood filth) results in some small good. But when I was walking to the train this morning, I became increasingly sad with each step I took. The less-than-3-block walk from my dwelling place to the train station is always so full of litter that I can quickly fill a shopping bag, and it culminates in the filthiest sidewalk and gutter that I have ever seen in person (and I grew up in freakin' Flatbush).

 

 

How is this acceptable?!??

How did this become the norm?

How do people walk by in droves every day and not even blink? 

How do businesses operate 10 feet from this level of filth and not feel the slightest compulsion to clean up?

And why do people continue to patronize businesses, which, by not cleaning this curb, are giving a hearty Eff You to everybody who has to walk by (over/though) this rot?

Our Councilman has arranged for 20 weeks of increased Sanitation pick-up in this area. I do notice that the corner garbage can is usually empty enough to actually serve its purpose of being a viable litter depository (usually the few and far between neighborhood bins are overflowing at all times). In fact, this morning the corner can was completely empty- they must have just picked up when I came along. All of the contents you see in the trash can below were put there by me after my short walk down 74th Street to the Roosevelt Avenue train station. Actually, the large Modell's bag I used was overflowing by the time I reached the end of the 2nd block. Really, really depressing.

Can contents = litter collected on one side of 74th Street between 43rd and Roosevelt

 

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Below is a photo of some local politician's (?) or maybe a Sanitation official's (?) or Mall exec's (?) idea of a joke: paper and bottle recycling cans outside the Queens Center Mall. This would be well and good if there were also several TRASH cans (or one really big one). But for whatever reason, there are only these recycling cans. Is it any wonder that people have taken to using them as trash cans? And that they are overflowing? The Queens Center Mall is one of the most heavily trafficked malls in the USA. Yet despite the fact that people spend obscene amounts of money on the crap-food and synthetic-fibered clothing purveyed therein, the mall does not see fit to arrange for its patrons to have access to a simple ol' garbage can. There are trash cans inside, but what about outside? There are hordes of people outside the mall at all times, many of them going to or coming from the mall. Of course they are going to produce trash. What do you think happens to all those Pretzelmaker wrappers? You got it: they end up shoved in one of the recycling bins, and when the bins overfloweth, on the sidewalk.

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With the garbage cans overflowing, or not even present, where is one to dispose of their trash? Why, right on 43rd Avenue of course!----yes, even if your "trash" is actually a bizarrely-contained collection of bodily fluids. Anything goes on 43rd, right?

43rd Avenue. Nov 2, 2014
Thankfully this had been run over so most of the contents were gone, but there was
enough leftover for me to quickly identify it as a good old Elmhurst water balloon. Yep.

43rd Avenue. Nov 2, 2014
Canada Dry bucket o' liquid gold (mislabeled "Seltzer Water")

 

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Meanwhile, my friends the smokers were up to their usual activities this weekend. Actually, I found their leftovers on Woodside and 74th; I guess they had to move from their usual location (behind the abandoned corner building on 43rd). I think it's because the house next door to the abandoned building started turning on a big floodlight that shines right down on the alley where I discovered the Ziploc bag of blunt remnants last week.

 

Woodside Avenue and 74th Street. Nov 3, 2014