Nonprofit Providing Extra Cleanups; Dilapidated Corner Renovated
The Fresh Pond Road shopping strip in Ridgewood is getting additional sanitation services courtesy of The Doe Fund.
The nonprofit maintenance group-which employs formerly homeless and imprisoned persons looking to turn their lives around- will reportedly pick up trash and maintain Fresh Pond Road between Myrtle and Metropolitan avenues three days a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) through the end of the year.
City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley secured their services through $68,000 in additional discretionary funding she received. Earlier this year, Crowley announced the Doe Fund would expand its services along MyrtleAvenue in Glendale and Grand Avenue in Maspeth; it also operates along the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District in Ridgewood.
Trash problems have plagued Fresh Pond Road in recent years. The Department of Sanitation removed public waste baskets along the strip last year after local residents and business owners were caught illegally dumping their personal garbage in the receptacles, which are intended only for small litter.
Even though the Sanitation Department maintains the removal has proven effective in reducing illegal dumping, some individuals have been spotted leaving bags of garbage and smaller items such as used coffee cups lying against lampposts, on newspaper bins or in tree pits.
“After the great success we have had with the Doe Fund on Myrtle and Grand avenues so far, I’m glad to be able to extend their cleaning services to Fresh Pond Road,” Crowley said in a statement to the Times Newsweekly on Tuesday, Sept. 30. “Ridgewood residents should expect to see a big difference almost immediately.”
Doe Fund members have also been contracted to shovel snow from crosswalks and the newly extended sidewalk on the southeast corner of Fresh Pond Road and Metropolitan Avenue, the former site of a long-vacant and dilapidated newsstand demolished earlier this year. Approximately $100,000 in funds that Crowley previously secured paid for the structure’s demolition.
Last month, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Long Island Rail Road expanded the sidewalk on the newsstand’s former footprint and an adjacent, gravel-covered area. Metal bollards painted in yellow were also installed every six feet to prevent drivers from illegally parking their vehicles at the spot.
Crowley indicated she would reach out to the DOT to bring street furniture to the site.
Additionally, the DOT’s Art Program and the Queens Council of the Arts installed a mural from a local artist on the exterior fencing surrounding a longdefunct gas station across the street from the former newsstand on Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road.
Created by Ridgewood’s Andrea Bergart, “Swish Swash” features visual traditions and geometric abstractions on a 144′- long, 6′-wide banner. Bergart’s work has previously been exhibited in galleries across the United States and in the African nation of Ghana.
“Quality of life in our district remains one of my top priorities,” Crowley added. “I’m thrilled that the aggressive and proactive steps my office has taken to improve conditions on Fresh Pond Road are delivering real results for the community.”
