Nasty Bin Update

During the week, someone cleaned up the crap around the clothing bin on Woodside and Broadway. But I walked by there on Sunday night (March 29) and there was an all new pile of crap next to the bin, woohoo! Well, for what it's worth, I just submitted another removal request to DSNY. But I think this is on private property so they may not be able to remove it (and the property owner obviously doesn't mind the constant mess). Just more crap for us look at everyday!

Clothing Bin by the Car Wash at the Woodside Ave and Broadway intersection
March 29, 2015

March 29, 2015
Name of Bin Owner(?)
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UPDATE: May 25, 2015
Walked by the location today, and the bin is no more! Unfortunately people still dump clothes
 in the location, but hopefully they will eventually notice the sign and maybe care about what it says and no longer dump "cloths" there--- oh, who am I kidding? But I seriously am glad that the bin is gone at least.

 

 

A frightening development?

I came home around 8pm last night to find the items pictured below at my front door. This is the sort of pile one usually finds on 43rd Avenue. I'm kind of worried that someone who frequents the Ave for dumping/pot-smoking/pimping or other not-nice purposes knows where I live and put this pile of trash at my doorstop to freak me out (mission accomplished!). Of course, it could just be random, but honestly I've never seen anyone leave a pile like this in front of someone's actual home... not when the seemingly abandoned and anything-goes stretch of 43rd Avenue is just steps away. 

 

Clothing Bins

The photo below, taken last night, shows the typically filthy state of the two clothing bins at the intersection of Woodside Avenue and Broadway (across the street from Elmhurst Hospital). These bins are labeled with names of multiple organizations, which should be evidence that they are BS; in other words, no organization will benefit from clothing placed in these bins, because the bins are probably owned by some a-hole clothing resellers who will dig through the donations looking for any name-brand items that they can resell, and leave the rest- ie, the majority- of the clothes behind in a pile like that below. I just submitted a request to the DSNY to remove the bins. I'm not sure if they can, because they may be on private property. They seem to be on the property of the Car Wash. So if the car wash guy rents the space to the bin owners, I guess the DSNY cannot remove them. But hopefully the property owner will at least get a ticket for the crap pile below.

For anyone interested, here is the link to the DSNY Clothing Bin Removal Form

                                                            2015WB0351886

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In other news, 43rd Avenue wasn't TOO bad this weekend. No illegal dumping, thank God! The husband and I were able to clean it up in less than 30 minutes, and only filled two large trash bags. Progress?

Gossip Gal of 43rd: Sunday adventures, and an encounter with the "artist"?

First, thanks to the Woodside Neighborhood Association and John C. for taking care of the graffiti on Woodside Avenue circa 72nd Street! I was very embarrassed that conditions in the "OGCLE territory" had deteriorated to such an extent. I had not done a proper OGCLE litter pick-up since the snow melted. I've been getting lazy, and using the snow and ice as an excuse to not make my rounds. But when Dave and his masked friend arrived to paint over the graffiti on Sunday, they inspired me to get moving again. So Sunday afternoon, I put in about 3 hours of litter collection. In all that time I only managed to cover 43rd Avenue (between 72nd and 74th), and 72nd Street. I filled 3 garbage bags with litter just from those 2 blocks, which is...depressing, yes. It's also a reminder that I have to collect litter regularly, because it gets out of control VERY quickly.

Notes: In the 2-block stretch of 43rd, I found 3 Elmhurst whitefish (and a lot more wrappers), and drug baggies galore. So, apparently the snowy and freezing conditions of these last few weeks did not put a damper on the usual 43rd Avenue activities. Speaking of which....

Sunday evening around 10pm, I decided to go for a stroll/patrol of 43rd Avenue. I was horrified to see that there was litter everywhere again, just a few hours after I'd picked up every scrap I could find. In addition to the litter, someone had deposited a broken dining room chair on the Avenue. I know I should be grateful that this wasn't 311-worthy dumping like that Sunday night in December. But it pissed me off all the same. If you cannot already tell from reading this blog, I'm a ~little~ nutty when it comes to litter. When I saw how filthy the Avenue had become in just a matter of hours, I of course started yelling to myself (and anyone who was around) things like "Gross!" "What is wrong with people?!?" Toward the 72nd Street part of the Avenue, I saw a sizable group (at least 6, I think) of people. When I got closer, yelling and picking up litter along the way, I smelled wacky weed, and got a better view of the smokers of said product. They appeared to be well-dressed (in dark suits/going-out attire) youngish men, and they were standing by an idling car. (FWIW, the car was a dark blue, new-looking sedan.) When I got about 20 feet from them, they hustled into the car and sped away. Thank goodness! The nerve of them, stopping off on 43rd Avenue to get high before they go out clubbing. I mean, what the fork? How would they like someone driving up to their homes and standing around outside getting high? (Heck, they probably would like it- maybe they would just go out front and see if they could bum a toke.)

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My friend "Dana" told me about her own encounter with some suspicious characters on 43rd Avenue. Last Wednesday evening, Dana was the in vicinity of 43rd Avenue and 72nd Street around 8:45pm. The church on that corner had just completed its Lenten evening service. Dana left a few minutes after the main crowd, so the area was pretty deserted. She noticed two guys standing around, looking "very suspicious." She said they were looking around, darting hither and yon, and one of them was carrying a nearly-empty looking backpack (ie, it looked like it might contain a spray paint can and nothing else). She said they were definitely older than teenagers- looked to be in their 20s or 30s. She asked them what they were doing, and one of them replied tersely, "Mind your own business." Thankfully, she did- she drove off. Perhaps they were "only" packing spraypaint, but one never knows. I'm glad she didn't engage them further. I have this fantasy that if I had seen them, and they told me to mind my own business, I would reply, "I live here. Therefore, what goes on here IS my business!" But (1)I am way too chicken, and (2)challenging random suspicious-acting strangers might very well lead to death, or at least get me shot or stabbed. In any event, I'm glad Dana is okay, and I am glad no new graffiti showed up that night. Of course, that begs the questions, what were those two guys doing if they weren't graffiti-ing? Ugh, I don't even want to know :o(

Sculpture of 43rd Avenue Unidentified Murder Vicitim



We are coming up to the one-year anniversary of the discovery of a murder victim near 43rd Avenue and 74th Street. I wrote about the case here. In short: last April, a homeless man collecting bottles along the train tracks found a bag of body parts. Police eventually recovered the entire body. Last October, the police released a sketch of the victim. I just randomly checked NamUS (as one does), and saw that last month the OCME added photos of a sculpture of the man's head. He looks MUCH more realistic, and much nicer, in sculpture form (some of those October sketches looked downright menacing). These new pictures make me so sad, because he seems so much more REAL now, and he also looks so young and sweet.

 

Does anyone recognize this young man??? If he looks even vaguely familiar, please contact authorities at 1-800-577-TIPS or submit your tip online.

 

 

 

 

Other facts about the case (according to NamUS):

Estimated height: around 5'8

Estimate age: between 20-30

Race: probably white or Hispanic

Estimated Date of Death: Early 2014

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If you recognize this man, and/or have information about the murder, please call 1-800-577-TIPS or submit your tip online. Or contact the 110th Precinct at (718) 476-9311