Monday, December 29, 2014

Weekend dumping, hysteria, looking a dealer/pimp(?) in the eye...

This is what is so depressing and frustrating and discouraging: yesterday afternoon I spent a good 2 hours picking up each and every scrap of garbage and debris from 43rd Avenue, every little parking receipt and crumpled tissue that I could find. By around 4:30pm I was exhausted, but the Avenue was spotless (between 72nd and 74th Streets at least). I went home satisfied, only to come out a couple hours later to find this:
 
 
Dec. 28, 2014 pile on 43rd Ave.
 

Box in the Dec 28 pile. Return address is B&N. Looks like the idiot who dumped this pile was
smart enough to remove his or her own name at least...

This seems like the only potential clue to the dumper's identity, if it was his or her own box and not just a box he found in the basement or on the street. I googled ODON DORON, 1536 (building number?) and 4E (apt #?), in various combinations, but I did not find anything useful.

Dug through some papers in the pile, but again, did not find anything that seemed useful in identifying the person. I thought perhaps the name in this confessional (?) note would be useful: looks like "Aaliyah R. Kelly"- but that is the name of the beautiful young singer who died tragically in a plane crash in the year 2001. So, I don't think she is our dumper. I don't even think R. Kelly is our dumper. Sure there were some dapper menswear boxes in the pile, but, I dunno, if you're rich and famous, surely you could hire someone who is smart enough to dispose of your personal items properly.






Personnel Concepts is a company that supplies OSHA and other
Employee Safety posters to companies. Police Corporation is the name of
some douchey-looking designer menswear company (from what I could find online).
Our dumper sure has fancy taste (see also the Fifth Avenue hat store box photo above).



 
And here of course we have yet another 43rd Avenue Whitefish. The one in the photo is the fourth that I saw just yesterday (Dec. 28) on 43rd. Oh, and while I was freaking out over the dump pile and yelling and crying like a lunatic, there was a car parked nearby that had a couple who looked like they were pretty, er, active in the backseat. I didn't exactly pause to look, and honestly I was too irate over this dump-pile to give a crap about people forking on the Avenue. But when I saw this 4th condom, after my hours of cleanup that resulted in nothing more than a f*ck-you-dump-pile, I just about gave up all hope. I mean, understand: I had already picked up 1, 2, 3 used condoms that same day from the same block.

I think I met the pimp who was waiting for the transaction in the car to wind down. When I spotted the dump pile from my corner, I stormed toward it furiously, but even in that state I noticed a guy hanging out by the overpass. He was just standing there playing a game on his phone (or so I surmised from the beeping/zinging noises the phone was emitting). The guy was about 15 feet from the parked car with the f*cking couple (and the parked car was pretty much right in front of the dump pile). So I was crying and cursing like a crazy lady, and taking flash photos of the pile, and using my phone flashlight (which is actually pretty powerful) while I was digging through the boxes frantically trying to find a name and address (don't know why though; when someone actually dumped boxes with his name and address on it and I reported it to 311, the operator said that there was nothing she could do with the info). After a few minutes of me looking/acting like a lunatic, and probably causing too much of a ruckus too close to the f*ckmobile, the guy came over to me and said, in a really annoyed kind of tone, "What are you looking for?" I turned to him and I swear I was crying, I mean, I was SO hurt and frustrated at that point that I didn't even care if he was a pimp, or a dealer who was protecting his turf and about to blow my head off, and I just said "I'm looking for an address of the person who did this! I just cleaned this entire block, and look what someone did!!" I must have sounded so hysterical that he just sort of rolled his eyes and went back to his post. The people in the car never even seemed to notice my presence (if they did, it certainly did not interfere with their activity, from the moving shapes/shadows I could see in the darkened car window).

Yeah, so it was a holiday weekend full of prostitution (or at least blatant street f*cking) and dumping, and a seemingly wasted 2 hours of my life.


UPDATE: 12:32pm: My hubby called to inform me that the garbage was picked up already! (I had called this in to 311 last night.) YAY!!!!!!!!!!THANK YOU THANK YOU DSNY!!!!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jen,

    I saw your name in the newspaper recently about stewardship in Elmshurst. I am one of the Queens Outreach Coordinators for Partnerships for Parks. First, I want to thank you for your volunteer work. I also want to bring your attention to Partnerships for Parks. We're a private-public program by NYC Parks and the City Parks Foundation that provides local community groups (or Friends of Parks groups) with resources such as workshops, grants, training and volunteer activities. You can learn more about our program here:

    http://cityparksfoundation.org/partnerships-for-parks/

    Likewise, some of the community groups we support are:
    1. Woodside Neighborhood Association: http://www.woodsideneighborhoodassociation.com/
    2. Astoria Park Alliance: http://astoriaparkalliance.blogspot.com/
    3. Friends of Astoria Heights Playground: http://friendsofastoriaheightspark.org/
    4. Jackson Heights Beautification Group: http://www.jhbg.org/

    I would love to meet with you to learn about your goals and consider how we can support your efforts! Please let me know if you're interested. Have a great day!

    Regards,
    Bin.




    Bin Feng Zheng | Queens Outreach Coordinator
    Tel: 718.520.5948 | BinFeng.Zheng@parks.nyc.gov
    Love your park? Join a growing network of active New Yorkers caring for their
    neighborhood parks year-round. Get connected to resources and volunteer groups in your
    community by visiting www.partnershipsforparks.org or follow us on facebook

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