Our sister project, the Brownsville Community Justice Center, recently tackled a longstanding neighborhood eyesore, succeeding where other attempts had failed. It's a great story that illustrates how complicated it can be to do something as seemingly simple as a clean-up project, and how rewarding it is to make a visible change for the better in a neighborhood. It involved collaborating with community and municipal agencies as well as a lot of ad hoc monitoring of the site itself. Bravo to BCJC staff for going the extra mile!
http://brownsvillejusticecenter.blogspot.com/2014/05/justice-center-coordinates-massive.html
Justice Center coordinates
massive, multi-agency clean-up in Brownsville
For as
long as anyone can remember, the space behind the fence in the Langston Hughes
parking lot has been a dump site. For well over a decade, a homeless man had
made it his encampment and accumulated literally tons of trash and debris behind
it. The site has been an eyesore and health hazard in the community. It smelled
of urine and feces, children in the adjacent playground were afraid to go near
it, and no one would park in the spots nearby because the man was known to
vandalize cars. Even though everyone wanted it gone, there was no a quick fix.
The dumping was actually on private property (behind a Belmont Avenue sneaker
store), but the property owner didn't have access because NYCHA had put up a
fence and he had no rear entry. The lock on the fence had long rusted over and
Sanitation could not gain access. As far as NYPD jurisdiction, while the parking
lot was policed by PSA 2, the dumping site was technically precinct turf. There
was also great concern from all parties about how the homeless man would react
if the site were cleaned which had stalled previous efforts.
The
solution to this problem required a commitment from all city agencies involved
to work very closely together. Luckily in Brownsville's community district 16,
we have phenomenal partners committed to going above and beyond to get the job
done. This project would not have been possible without
NYCHA and Langston Hughes Property Management, Dept. of
Sanitation BK 16, NYPD's 73rd precinct and PSA 2, Common Ground's homeless
services outreach team, and Ms. Viola Greene-Walker, our Community Board 16
District Manager.
At the
end of the day, the project was a success on multiple levels. Not only did it
show us that no job is too big if we work together, it removed a huge symbol of
blight and disinvestment from the community. Throughout the morning, dozens of
Langston Hughes residents stopped by to express their excitement and relief that
the site was being cleaned. One even leaned out the top floor of the 21-story
development to shout, "Yay! It's finally being cleaned. Thank you!"
The
clean-up was an initiative of the Justice Center's Belmont Revitilization
Project and Operation Toolkit. Operation Toolkit takes a problem-solving
approach to tackling discrete neighborhood problems, particularly hotspots and
conditions of disorder that impact public safety. To learn more or to suggest an
Operation Toolkit project, contact Viviana at 347-404-9940.
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| Before the cleanup. The dumping measured 22 feet wide, 4
feet deep and between 6-9 feet tall. |
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| NYCHA's welder was the first to arrive at the
site. |
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| Soon after, NYCHA property management, NYPD conditions
officers from the 73rd precinct, and Common Ground street outreach workers
arrived |
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| along with the Department of Sanitation BK16 cleaning and
field officers. |
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| NYPD was effective in engaging the homeless individual to
leave the site voluntarily and without
incident. |
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| After NYPD used their bolt cutter, the welder began to
dismantle the fence. |
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| The garbage was so compacted it did not fall with the
fence. |
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| DSNY surveyed the site as their sanitation truck
arrives. |
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| The first half of the fence comes
down. |
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| And the clean-up
begins. |
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| First to go were the corrugated metal and wrought iron
fences. |
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| NYCHA, NYPD, DSNY and Justice Center staff look
on. |
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| NYCHA provided two "front-loader" bobcats to assist with
the clean-up. |
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| DSNY strategize with their district
superintendent. |
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| It got a lot dirtier before it got
cleaner. |
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| Ready for the second half of the fence to come
down. |
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| NYCHA and DSNY survey the second
half. |
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| Like the first half, it was so compact it did not
fall. |
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| NYCHA hard at work breaking up the
debris. |
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| The NYCHA Borough Administrator for Property Management
and BK16's Cleaning Officer track progress. |
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| At one point 3 cats ran out of the
site. |
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| A few rats, and many, many
roaches. |
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| More than 6 tons of debris were
removed. |
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NYCHA returned after this to sweep the premises and
exterminate, DSNY came through with their street sweeper and NYCHA will power
wash the wall.
NEXT STEPS:
NYCHA will not replace the fence so the dumping problem
does not recur. The Justice Center will work with the property owner to finish
cleaning the site, scrape and repaint the wall, and monitor it to prevent future
dumping. The Justice Center, property owner, and NYCHA will develop a project to
permanently reclaim and beautify the space - possibly planter boxes of flowers
and a mural.
Stay tuned for more updates!
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