By Gabriel Rom
Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) and Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia spent Tuesday afternoon with merchants along Liberty Avenue.
Stopping in famous Sybil’s Bakery, Singh’s Roti Shop & Bar, and the Allstate Insurance Company, the elected officials spoke with the small businesses about sidewalk maintenance, fielded questions and thanked them for keeping the heavily trafficked Liberty Avenue clean.
“I am looking to our community’s local business owners to show leadership on this issue,” said Wills. “They have a primary responsibility to observe our sanitation laws by engaging in practices that will enhance people’s awareness about proper trash disposal and encourage greater cooperation. Accountability for the cleanliness of our streets begins and ends with each of us as fellow neighbors.”
“We have seen more pickup lately. It was a good thing for the councilman to be here,” said Rick Ali an agent at Allstate.
Additional enforcement agents and staff members from the councilman’s office visited the remaining businesses along Liberty Avenue, and distributed Adopt-a-Basket literature, provided routing times, and supplied Styrofoam Packaging Restrictions Hardship Waiver applications.
“We need to keep in constant partnership with the public,” said Commissioner Garcia.
Wills commented on the importance of his district’s business owners to set an example for the rest of the community to follow when discarding their garbage.
“The street becomes more economically valuable when it’s cleaned up, and we’re here to let them know that we’re here to work with them,” Wills said.
Since last year Wills has employed the non-profit Fedcap-Wildcat Services Corporation to supplement the sanitation services the department routinely provides his constituents and obtained additional litter baskets to curb the practice of dumping heavy refuse into city receptacles.
“The reason these events are so important is that we need to educate business owners. They have to clean up, they have to know the regulations, and they have to know that we will respond to their concerns,” said Community Board 10 Chairwoman Betty Braton.
Reach reporter Gabriel Rom by e-mail at grom@
