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Peter Koo teams up with sanitation company to clean up Flushing’s “Restaurant Row”

Peter Koo teams up with sanitation company to clean up Flushing’s “Restaurant Row”
Photo courtesy Peter Koo
By Gina Martinez

City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) has teamed up with Crown Container, a trash disposal company, to clean up “Restaurant Row” in Downtown Flushing.

40th Road, a 0.1-mile block in the heart of Flushing, has more than 20 popular restaurants. The strip has had ongoing sanitation issues from garbage being left out in the streets for extended periods of time, which has resulted in leaked garbage bags, odors and sidewalks being blocked.

“This street is a unique part of Flushing that is widely known both for its variety of restaurants and its mountains of garbage,” Koo said.

The city partnered up with Crown Container, which just purchased $300,000 in new equipment for sanitation purposes that will help clean 40th Road and other Flushing streets. Crown Container will provide 150 fourty-five gallon pails to all food establishment that will prevent bags from piling up and leaking. In addition trucks with cart tippers will help lessen the spillage from containers that leave behind odors. Garbage collections will occur twice a day, once at 5 p.m. and then at 10 p.m.

“Crown Container is thrilled to supply our 40th Road restaurant customers with new toter pails in order to help the downtown Flushing community with keeping 40th Road clean,” Jerry Antonacci, president of Crown Container, said. “The pails are designed to keep the sidewalks clean and the streets free of garbage and liquids. After the 40th Road pilot is complete, we will then offer this new sanitation program to other downtown Flushing restaurants. This effort along with our new composting program in downtown Flushing will not only make Flushing green, but also clean.”

An additional measure to ensure cleanliness will be a $350 fine from the Department of Sanitation issued to any restaurant that leaves bags or bins behind past collection times

“We’re here today to announce what we hope will finally become a solution to the perpetual garbage problem on 40th Road,” Koo said. “This street is a unique part of Flushing that is widely known both for its variety of restaurants and its mountains of garbage. Ultimately, the responsibility lies with all of us to ensure the sanitation of our community. At the end of the day, this comes down to acting as a responsible neighbor.”

The councilman said his office had also been working with the Flushing BID.

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.