‘More trash pickups, sanitation “strike teams,” parking lane-based containers and a sci-fi tubular system to whisk waste away — plus possible new business improvement districts in the Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen — are all part of a “sweeping” sanitation plan by Council candidate Erik Bottcher.’
-The Village Sun
Dear Friends:
If New York City is going to recover economically from the COVID-19 crisis, we need to put our best foot forward to the world, and that includes having clean streets.
I’m proud to present “Clean District 3,” my vision for sanitation in our community. It contains common sense policies, informed by my years of experience in city and state government, best practices around the world, and the work of advocates.
Picking up the trash and keeping our neighborhoods clean is a fundamental responsibility of city government. Let’s face it: even before the COVID-19 crisis, New York City was falling short on sanitation and our sustainability policies were stuck in the past.
Below you’ll find details of the plan. I’m excited to make this vision a reality as a member of the New York City Council.
Yours always,
Erik Bottcher
The ‘Clean District 3’ Sanitation Plan
Increase Corner Basket Pickup
As a member of the City Council, I will fight for a significant increase in corner basket service. Last year, in order to close the budget gap, the Department of Sanitation’s budget was slashed by $106 million. Weekly litter basket runs were cut by 63 percent—from 736 to 272. Sunday basket service was eliminated entirely. Some service was restored, but not in Council District 3. We need a full restoration of basket service, and an increase over time, because overflowing waste baskets were a chronic problem even before the COVID-19 crisis.
Increase & Improve Street Cleaning
Street cleaning needs to be restored to two days a week. It was reduced to once a week in June of 2020 by Mayor de Blasio, resulting in trash accumulation on side streets, alongside parked cars and in gutters. I will also push for the purchase of smaller street sweepers that are able to properly clean narrow bike lanes. Many bike lanes are too narrow for full-size street sweepers, and they frequently accumulate trash. The Hudson River Park Trust uses small street sweepers to clean the West Side Bikeway, and we need them for bike lanes throughout Council District 3.
Create Borough-wide DSNY ‘Strike Teams’ that Respond to 311 Calls in Real Time
I am proposing the creation of ‘strike teams’ of sanitation workers who are assigned to cover each borough, responding in real-time to 311 complaints of overflowing waste baskets and other unsanitary conditions. This would help prevent sanitation issues from going unresolved for long periods of time, which compromises quality of life, public health and rodent control.
Use On-Street Containers, Not Sidewalks, for Garbage Collection
On trash collection days, New Yorkers are currently forced to walk by mountains of trash bags that take up valuable sidewalk space. It doesn’t have to be this way. Instead of piling bags on the sidewalk in front of each building for collection, the city should allow residential communities to use on-street containers or corrals in centralized locations on each block, like they do in parts of Buenos Aires and Barcelona. This concept is currently being piloted by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Sanitation in Business Improvement Districts primarily, but it should be expanded to more neighborhoods immediately and give New Yorkers relief from congested and unsanitary sidewalks. CHEKPEDS has promoted this idea locally and has been instrumental in helping it gain traction with city officials.
Consideration of Additional BID Coverage in the Village, Chelsea & Hell’s Kitchen
BIDs (Business Improvement Districts) often provide neighborhoods with supplemental sanitation services, often in partnership with organizations like ACE Programs for the Homeless. Pending community approval, I support the creation of a new West Village BID along the Seventh Avenue South commercial corridor that has been proposed by local residents. In Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, the community should have the opportunity for more BID coverage, if they so choose. This could include a new Chelsea Business Improvement District (BID), and a northward expansion of the HYHK BID in Hell’s Kitchen.
Pilot Pneumatic Tube Technology
Looking to the future, pneumatic tube waste collection technology holds great promise and should be pursued in New York City. It is used in cities around the world such as Songdo, South Korea, where automated waste disposal bins suck waste directly to underground tubes that connect to centralized collection points. Here in Council District 3, in the short term, a pneumatic tube should be installed underneath the High Line that could transfer garbage from up and down the West Side to centralized collection locations, reducing truck traffic on our streets and becoming a model that could be used elsewhere. This proposal has already garnered support from local stakeholders and I will push to make it a reality. Additionally, I will support installing this technology at large complexes such as NYCHA and Penn South.
New Litter Baskets
The standard wire waste bins currently found on the corners throughout New York City are antiquated, frequently in disrepair, and overflow quickly. I will fund the replacement of these wire baskets with new and modern high capacity bins at intersections throughout Council District 3.
Universal Organic Waste Collection
It’s time to mandate universal composting services for all residents and businesses. The State of California did so a year ago, and I will sponsor City Council legislation to make this happen in New York City. Additionally, the city should use organic waste to generate clean energy locally, which could be done at a new green energy hub on Rikers Island. A mandatory organic waste program could divert more than 1 million tons of garbage from landfills each year, reducing carbon emissions, preventing rodent infestation, and improving sidewalk conditions on trash collection days. New York City’s waste alone is responsible for 1.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year, primarily due to food waste.
As District 3 Chief of Staff in Speaker Corey Johnson’s office, I helped substantially increase organic waste programs in Council District 3, including facilitating the adoption of curbside pickup at Westbeth, Penn South and Manhattan Plaza and new drop-off locations throughout the district.
Better Regulate Corner Newspaper Boxes
Corner newspaper boxes are often filthy, covered with graffiti and stickers, broken, and filled with litter. I will fight for stricter standards with respect to design, placement, and maintenance of newspaper/magazine dispensers. If elected, I will co-sponsor legislation similar to that introduced by Council Member Danny Dromm.
Ban More Single Use Plastics
Plastic waste is killing our marine ecosystem and littering our neighborhoods. I will fight for the phasing out of single-use plastics in New York City, including plastic straws, stir sticks, and single-use water bottles. The NYC Department of Sanitation collected roughly 36 million pounds of single-use plastics from homes each year across the five boroughs in 2017. The department estimates that commercial establishments contribute tens of million more pounds to that number. To help reduce our reliance on single-use water bottles, we should pilot reusable water bottle refilling stations at fire hydrants, and they did in Montreal. While banning plastic bags and polystyrene foam were positive steps, we need to go much further if we are to save our ecosystem.
A More Accurate Sanitation Scorecard
The Mayor’s Office of Operations issues Street & Sidewalk Cleanliness Ratings, but the process is opaque and the cleanliness scores don’t always correspond to conditions on the ground. For example, 94.1 percent of streets in Community Board 2, 88.9 percent of streets in Community Board 4, and 93.7 percent of streets in Community Board 5 were rated “acceptably clean” in the November 2020 monthly report. All four of these Community Boards were given a 100 percent sidewalk cleanliness rating for quarter 2 of Fiscal Year 2021. These ratings are out of step with reality, a conclusion shared by NYS Comptroller DiNapoli in a September 2020 audit. I will push to have this system revamped and updated, which would challenge us to do better as a city. Additionally, the Mayor’s Office of Operations has a Street Conditions Observation Unit (SCOUT) that “works to improve quality of life in city neighborhoods and make city government more responsive to conditions that can negatively affect NYC residents,” yet this unit is unknown to most New Yorkers and does not directly coordinate with local elected officials and community boards. This unit has potential and I will push to make it a more central element of our sanitation efforts.
Expand Food Recovery Efforts
We must do a better job of recovering leftover food from restaurants and other food establishments, in order to help address food insecurity and divert that food from the waste stream. Currently, 68% of all food waste that is discarded in New York City is still edible. I will push the next mayoral administration on this issue and introduce legislation if necessary. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, when more New Yorkers are experiencing food insecurity, it is essential that we expand our food waste and recovery practices.
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