Trash (Jan. 7)
Jan. 28, 2014 By Michael Florio
Astoria’s elected officials are calling on the mayor to help them clean up the neighborhood’s litter-strewn streets.
The officials, who have heard many complaints from their constituents, are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to take action and add an additional garbage pickup time within Astoria’s commercial districts.
Currently, there is only one overnight pick up each day from Monday through Saturday– down from three daily pickups several years ago. The cutback in service was due to a series of budget cuts over the years.
The officials are calling on de Blasio to add another pickup time, and are recommending that it should occur between 11 am and 7 pm, when most of the trash is generated.
“Residents have continued to contact my office regarding the deplorable levels of trash strewn about the streets,” said Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas. “We have asked the mayor for an additional pickup service for the public waste baskets along Astoria’s busy commercial streets. Inaction on this issue is unacceptable.”
Simotas—along with State Sen. Mike Gianaris and Costa Constantinides (councilman-elect at the time)—held a press conference last fall calling on former Mayor Mike Bloomberg to add another pickup time. It did not lead to any change.
