Waste land: Local elected officials tell the city to move the garbage trucks from 10th Street

[EVG file photo]

After nearly a year of meetings and direct pleas from residents of 10th Street, the city has yet to take any action to relocate the fleet of garbage trucks that park on the block west of First Avenue.

Yesterday, local elected officials joined block residents in urging an immediate solution and requesting that the sanitation trucks be removed.

Garbage trucks on East 10th St stink!

🤮They’re hurting small businesses & ruining the quality of life.

🤮I joined @RepMaloney @CarlinaRivera @DeborahJGlick to demand @NYCSanitation remove these trucks.

🤮If City Hall won’t do it, we’ll pass legislation in Albany to do so pic.twitter.com/8EQ0reFTBg

— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) August 18, 2019

I joined the East 10th Street community to demand @NYCSanitation finally remove their trucks which emit a foul smell & have negatively impacted residents and businesses for nearly a year. We’ve written a letter calling for an immediate solution to this gross problem. pic.twitter.com/TUy7t26chz

— Carolyn B. Maloney (@RepMaloney) August 18, 2019

Happy to join colleagues & neighborhood folks to Call on ⁦@NYCMayor⁩ to get these city garbage trucks off residential streets. ⁦@bradhoylman⁩ ⁦@RepMaloney⁩ ⁦@CarlinaRivera⁩ We've made many suggestions NOW get it done. pic.twitter.com/vVnvNnaWBP

— (((Deborah Glick))) (@DeborahJGlick) August 18, 2019

As first reported last Sept. 18, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is now using this section of 10th Street to park up to seven garbage trucks or other vehicles. The DSNY no longer has use of their garage on 30th Street, and their solution for the foreseeable future has been to relocate their fleet elsewhere, including overnight on residential blocks.

And why park here? The Theater for the New City complex at 155 First Ave. near 10th Street was previously used by DSNY for storage, and they still maintain space in the facility for crews.

Meanwhile, residents say they continue to have quality-of-life and safety concerns — as expressed in previous posts — over the row of trucks parked on this block.

Last September, shortly after the trucks arrived, Mayor de Blasio promised to "relieve the immediate pressure" on 10th Street. "Do we want garbage trucks parking on residential streets? Of course not," said de Blasio, as CBS 2 reported on Sept. 26. "What we’re trying to do every day is figure out the kind of facilities that will help avoid that in the future."

And now 11 months later residents here are still waiting for the city to do something.

Seth Stein, a spokesperson for the mayor, recently told the Post: "We are actively evaluating parking options for these trucks that keep them near the neighborhood they serve."

You can find a copy of the letter from the local elected officials to the city at this link.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Questions and concerns as the sanitation department begins using 10th Street to park garbage trucks

More trash talk about those garbage trucks parked on 10th Street

Local elected officials continue to press city for alternatives to parking garbage trucks on 10th Street; muggings now a concern

A waste of space: 10th Street still waiting for the garbage trucks to move on

Garbage truck parking situation on 10th Street still stinks, residents say

Garbage truck parking situation on 10th Street still stinks, residents say

With the arrival of a new season, residents who live on 10th Street west of First Avenue are anticipating a long, hot summer with garbage trucks continuing to park on their block.

A resident from 240 E. 10th St. shared this from a recent warm weather day:

Due to the three enormous sanitation trucks parked directly in front of our building ... there were dozens of flies in my apartment. You could see them on and around the trucks and flying up to people’s apartments. I have a new-born daughter in the apartment and there were flies on her pacifier, flies in my apartment and flies in her room. This is unacceptable.

As first reported last Sept. 18, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is now using this section of 10th Street to park up to seven garbage trucks or other vehicles. The DSNY no longer has use of their garage on 30th Street, and their solution for the foreseeable future has been to relocate their fleet elsewhere, including overnight on residential blocks.

And why park here? The Theater for the New City complex at 155 First Ave. near 10th Street was previously used by DSNY for storage, and they still maintain space in the facility for crews.

Meanwhile, residents say they continue to have quality-of-life and safety concerns — as expressed in previous posts — over the row of trucks parked on this block.







Last September, shortly after the trucks arrived, Mayor de Blasio promised to "relieve the immediate pressure" on 10th Street. "Do we want garbage trucks parking on residential streets? Of course not," said de Blasio, as CBS 2 reported on Sept. 26. "What we’re trying to do every day is figure out the kind of facilities that will help avoid that in the future."

Nine months later residents here are still waiting.

"Making phone calls and writing letters doesn’t seem to be doing anything," resident Michelle Lang said. "While Mayor de Blasio promised to relieve the residents of 10th Street from this undue burden back in September, nothing has been done."

Apparently there isn't any quick solution to the parking situation. DSNY included in their capital plan funding to start designing Manhattan Garage 6 (now temporarily on Montgomery and Jefferson streets) in 2022 with an anticipated completion date in 2028.

Local Councilmember Carlina Rivera has advocated for City Council to call to move the sanitation vehicles from residential neighborhoods in its 2020 Preliminary Budget Response.

Here's part of a missive from City Council:

The Council calls upon the Administration to relocate DSNY operational vehicles that are currently parked in residential neighborhoods to new, centralized locations within their respective sanitation districts. By centrally locating personnel and vehicle fleet, specifically in areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn, DSNY would improve efficiencies and reduce safety/air quality risks to local residents and small businesses.

Updated 8 p.m.

I asked Avi Burn, an owner of Pinks, whose bar-restaurant looks out at the parked garbage trucks, for his thoughts.

"Obviously businesses and neighbors are quite worried as the trucks are still parked on the block and the summer is the most perilous time for us as the stench is magnified, consumer foot traffic is heavier (will avoid smelly truck lined blocks) and there is more potentially hazardous street behavior late at night."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Questions and concerns as the sanitation department begins using 10th Street to park garbage trucks

More trash talk about those garbage trucks parked on 10th Street

Local elected officials continue to press city for alternatives to parking garbage trucks on 10th Street; muggings now a concern

A waste of space: 10th Street still waiting for the garbage trucks to move on

A waste of space: 10th Street still waiting for the garbage trucks to move on

In the past three-plus months, residents and business owners on 10th Street haven't heard much, if anything, from city officials about the garbage trucks that have been parked on the block just west of First Avenue since September.

"Nothing has been done and garbage trucks continue to park on 10th Street," said resident Michelle Lang, who noted one minor improvement — there are sometimes just three trucks here instead of seven. "But the quality of life and safety concerns that the wall of garbage trucks create remain."



As I first reported on Sept. 18, the DSNY is using part of 10th Street for up to seven trucks. The DSNY no longer has use of their garage at 606 W. 30th St., and are relocating their fleet elsewhere.

This move — apparently done without consultation with Community Board 3 — sparked numerous complaints this past fall from residents and merchants alike who have called out the problems with the smell, noise and negative impact on business.

Before Theater for the New City moved into its current home at 155 First Ave. near 10th Street in the late 1980s, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) used the building for storage. As Off the Grid noted in a 2012 feature, "When the Theater for the New City purchased the former First Avenue Retail Market building there was stipulation that they had to still share part of the space with the Sanitation Department for a time."

Pinks, the bar-restaurant at 242 E. 10th St., is the business most directly impacted by the parked trucks.

In a recent email, owner Avi Burn said that the trucks still provide "a pretty nasty backdrop for customers looking out the windows."

And he doesn't really feel as if the issue is still on anyone's radar.

"It's on their radar like a nagging house fly would be on someone's radar," he said. "I don't believe anyone truly cares but they are forced to respond to us when we make noise about it. Yet, no solutions have been presented to us."

On Jan. 11, the Mayor’s Office held a meeting with Sen. Brad Hoylman, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Councilmember Carlina Rivera, CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer, a representative from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s office and representatives from the DSNY, the Department of Transportation and the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.

As I understand it, the meeting was, in part, to find a solution to the parking issue. The elected officials were said to be upset by the lack of movement with finding a new location for the fleet. In the end, the DSNY agreed to further explore alternatives and move the trucks, but they have not finalized a timeline.

A rep for Sen. Hoylman told me this: "We are awaiting information from the DSNY and will continue to work together to forge a solution."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Questions and concerns as the sanitation department begins using 10th Street to park garbage trucks

More trash talk about those garbage trucks parked on 10th Street

Local elected officials continue to press city for alternatives to parking garbage trucks on 10th Street; muggings now a concern