By Madina Toure
State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing) has rolled out a new initiative to make Flushing cleaner.
The three-point plan, which Stavisky unveiled at a news conference last Friday, is centered on education, sanitation and communication.
The educational component of the plan calls for educating residents and business owners about the rules and regulations for garbage disposal by handing out fliers in English, Chinese and Korean.
The sanitation part of the plan would establish a third sanitation inspector who oversees areas within the 11354-355 zip codes. Community Board 7 currently has two sanitation inspectors.
Lastly, the plan’s communication component requests the creation of a roundtable with stakeholders so that small business owners can share their concerns, ideas and questions.
“Through programs such as graffiti removal, power washing and the founding of the Flushing BID, this area has seen improvement over the years, but trash continues to be problematic,” Stavisky said. “We cannot solve the issue merely by handing out citations to small business owners, but rather by using a multi-pronged approach.”
As a state senator, Stavisky was a founding member of the Downtown Flushing Transit Hub Business Improvement District.
She has also allocated funds for graffiti removal and sponsored power-washing programs with the BID.
Last year, she worked with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets to combat supermarkets’ illegal storing of food deliveries on the street.
Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing), who endorsed Stavisky’s re-election campaign at the news conference, said Flushing needs a senator who is familiar with the problems of everyday New Yorkers.
“Senator Stavisky has done great work in our community to make sure our streets are clean and our quality of life gets the right attention and resources from the state of New York,” Koo said.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
