Lawmaker Announces Funding For Cleaning Crew
The streets of Woodside are about to get cleaner, as City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer announced on Monday, July 9 that he has partnered with the Doe Fund to provide sanitation services for the area.
“As you can see, the Doe Fund is here and already hard at work,” Van Bramer said at the press conference at Woodside Memorial Park, located at 60th Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
According to the lawmaker, $31,000 in discretionary funding has been allocated to the fund for a threeman street-cleaning program that will cover Roosevelt Avenue from 51st Street to 61st Street, 61st Street from Roosevelt to 39th Avenue, and Woodside Avenue from 58th Street to 60th Street, as well as pedestrian plazas and other nearby areas.
According to a press release from Van Bramer’s office, at least two workers will be assigned to the area three days a week, six hours a day for FiscalYear 2012, augmenting the Department of Sanitation’s efforts. At Monday’s press conference, three workers-identified as Joshue Ramirez, Ramone Crute and Alonzo Young-manned the area.
The trio are part of the Doe Fund’s Ready, Willing & Able program, which offers job skills and training for homeless individuals, many of whom have had trouble with the law. According to their website, the program has helped over 4,500 people stay clean, get jobs and obtain their own housing.
To Young, the program is “a good opportunity” to get back on his feet.
“It really is a good program,” he told the Times Newsweekly. “It has unlimited amounts of stuff to offer you. You just have to get into it; you have be optimistic about it, you have to be positive.”
“This is an opportunity for the gentlemen in our program … to help get their lives back on track while providing cleaner, more vibrant, cleaner streets for community members,” said Joanna West, director of business development and work ventures at the Doe Fund. “We see it as a real win-win.”
“There are so many people coming and going; there is such activity and life in this neighborhood,” said Van Bramer, citing the area’s train stations, bus stops and local businesses. “As hard as the Department of Sanitation works, it’s just hard to keep up with it.”
“If you take a compass and try to find the center of New York City, you have arrived here in Woodside,” added Community Board 2 Chairperson Joseph Conley. “At the center of any neighborhood, it really means a lot to have clean streets and sidewalks.”
“There’s nothing more important than having a clean neighborhood,” Jack Donovan, manager of Donovan’s Pub on Roosevelt Avenue, said. “If people pull up in front of Donovan’s Pub and the streets are dirty, they are not going to come in.”
Van Bramer also announced that $250,000 has been secured for “pigeon mitigation systems” at the 46th Street, 52nd Street and 61st Street 7 train stations, in an effort to prevent the birds from congregating-and leaving droppings-in the area.
He added that discussions are ongoing regarding the creation of a Business Improvement District to cover the area.
