A number of community groups led city agencies and representatives of elected officials on a walkthrough of Jamaica’s Hillside Avenue Monday afternoon to highlight a plethora of concerns that they say are blighting the local community, including unsanitary trash pile-ups, a reduction of parking spaces and increased congestion.
Representatives from the Jamaica Bangladesh Friends Society and Jamaica Hill Community Association, alongside members of Community Board 8 and local residents, led representatives from the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and Department of Transportation (DOT) down several blocks of Hillside Avenue on Monday, Sept. 29, to highlight several issues impacting the community.
Representatives from the offices of Council Member Jim Gennaro and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards also joined the walkthrough alongside members of Community Board 8.
Monday’s walkthrough concluded with a community forum at Bangladeshi restaurant Panshi, located at 168-37 Hillside Ave., where residents outlined their concerns about issues facing Hillside Avenue.
Community leaders say the issues are predominately impacting a stretch of Hillside Avenue from Parsons Boulevard to 170th Street, with garbage pile-ups affecting sidewalk accessibility.
Mohammad Delwar Islam, president of the Jamaica Bangladesh Friends Society, said there has been a “100% increase” in rats along the thoroughfare due to the issue, while Saaif Alam, president of Jamaica Hill Community Association, argued that pile-ups have made it difficult for pedestrians to navigate the sidewalks.
Local residents have stated that there are a number of reasons for the pile-ups, arguing that garbage pick-ups should take place on side streets to avoid pile-ups on Hillside Avenue. They further contended that the removal of several trash bins along the thoroughfare has contributed to a significant increase in personal litter along the sidewalks.
Bhitihara Fulton, parks chair of CB8, said the issue has also arisen because many local businesses do not know of their responsibilities to arrange private trash pick-ups. She has called on the DSNY to provide businesses with multi-lingual information sheets informing them of how they can arrange pick-ups – and to then penalize businesses who do not arrange pick-ups thereafter.
Islam added that there is also a need for personal responsibility and called on local residents to hold onto trash until they reach a bin rather than throwing litter on the pavement. He also said business owners should ensure that their garbage is being picked up.
Alam stated that trash pile-ups have created odors along the avenue, adding that he has also noted an increased rodent presence in the area.
Islam, meanwhile, also said a number of loading zones along Hillside Avenue have removed several parking spaces from the local community, while “no left turn signs” on 164th Street and Merrick Boulevard have created dangerous conditions for pedestrians on several side streets due to increased congestion from cars that would have previously taken either 164th or Merrick.
“It’s a safety issue,” Islam said. “Because people tend to drive more on the side streets – the community blocks – than on the main road.”
Several community groups have called on the DOT to remove the no left turn signs as well as installing more signage in multiple languages to better facilitate traffic flow in the area.
Residents further blasted the reconfiguration of Hillside Avenue as part of the Queens Bus Redesign, which has seen the thoroughfare significantly changed to accommodate a faster bus service. Hillside Avenue now boasts one lane for private vehicles and one 24/7 offset bus lane, which resident argue has created significant congestion issues.
However, a DOT representative told residents Monday that Hillside Avenue is a main artery connecting Brooklyn with Nassau County and that 200,000 people use the bus to traverse the avenue every day.
The DOT representative said buses are the “most efficient” way to move people along the avenue, adding that there is “no perfect solution” that will make all residents happy.
Loading zones, meanwhile, are a direct result of outreach to the local community, the DOT representative said. The agency does its best to predict trends to properly utilize loading zones without creating congestion and removing spaces from the community at busy times of the day, they continued.
“What we’re hearing today is that it’s not working, at least not on every block,” the DOT representative said. “Some blocks could use refinement, and that’s fine.”
A spokesperson for the agency told QNS that Hillside Avenue is “one of the most important commuting and commercial corridors” in Queens, stating that the thoroughfare had previously featured an inconsistent, patchwork design of bus and travel lanes. An agency official told this publication that all redesigns commonly include an adjustment period for motorists.
“The new design will make buses faster and more reliable–while adding hundreds of new parking and loading spaces for those who work, shop, and live on the corridor —we will monitor the project, review feedback from the walkthrough, and make adjustments as needed,” the DOT said in a statement.
Alam, however, argued that there are not enough parking spots in the neighborhood as a result of the redesign, adding that congestion on largely residential corridors such as 162nd Street has intensified in recent months.
A representative for Gennaro also told QNS that the council member expressed concern over the redesign two years ago, raising concerns about the impact that it would have on traffic patterns and how it would affect local business.
A DSNY representative, on the other hand, told residents that trash bins had likely been removed because local residents had been using them to dispose of household waste rather than just individual trash. The agency representative said bins are often removed to discourse people from dumping trash at street corners.
However, the DSNY will be conducting outreach to local businesses to inform them of their responsibilities when disposing of trash as well as how they can go about doing so.
Gennaro’s spokesperson said the DSNY removed bins because they were being persistently misused by local residents. Gennaro has recently enlisted ACE cleaning services to help keep Hillside Avenue clean. Meanwhile, local residents have called on Gennaro’s office to help beautify the avenue by providing resources for tree-planting.
Fulton told DSNY representatives that the community is in “desperate need” of enforcement against residents and business owners who do not dispose of trash properly, to which agency representatives informed her that almost 600 summonses have been issued in CB8 in 2025 related to improper trash disposal.
Islam said a “language barrier” had prevented both the DOT and the DSNY from reaching many members of the local community.
He is “very sure” that the area has been neglected compared to other neighborhoods and alleged that the issues stemmed from discrimination against a largely immigrant community.
The DSNY pointed to the extensive outreach it has conducted with the local community as definitive proof that it has not neglected the area.
The agency further noted that commercial trash is handled by private carters, and local businesses are responsible for setting out their trash at night and ensuring it is picked up during the overnight hours.
