Cleaning up the Trash on the Street

Now that the weather is warming up, and the snow is melting, all the winter trash that was hidden is coming out. I know that there is going to be trash just about everywhere this time of year, but I am tired of the trash that is being dumped and thrown along many of our "commercial areas" such as Brooks, Thurston, Arnett and Genesee Streets.

Many of you know about, or have heard about the Broken Window theory. Where as neighborhoods that are left to decline, and become graffiti and liter strewn, are more likely to be the areas of higher crime. I love the idea of the community coming together and doing street clean ups, but I also believe that the city needs to enforce and hold people accountable for dumping garbage on the streets.

Below I am posting a place where you can submit a complaint to the city via the web. If enough of us continue to speak up, maybe they will listen. As though a little garbage on the street may seem insignificant, it is just one of many factors that subconsciously tell people that "no one is in charge here" and "I can do what I want, no one will know who did it". So please give our Neighborhood Service Center a call, and/or fill out the online complaint form. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and boy can me use some oil!

-Shawn
Southwest Neighborhood Service Center
923 Genesee St
585-428-7630

NSC Online Complaint Form

From the City of Rochester Website
Can my neighbor have loose garbage on their property?
No, section 305 of the Property Maintenance Code of New York State states as follows:
§PM305.1 Accumulation of rubbish or garbage. All exterior property and premises, and the interior of every structure, shall be free from any accumulation of rubbish or garbage.

What will happen if an owner does not remove the un-contained refuse from their property after a notice and order has been issued?
Seven days after a notice and order has been issued a reinspection will be conducted, if the violation remains, a ticket for $150 will be issued to the property owner and the debris will be sent to contract for removal at the expense of the property owner.

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Comment by Mark Sweetland on March 7, 2009 at 1:13am: So, now that snow is melting, what is the City going to do? Clean the streets? We went out in front of our house with a rake to clean along the curb, as the sewers were so clogged.

Comment by Mark Sweetland on February 24, 2009 at 8:43pm: There is also a City code about leaving garbage bins out in the street in case nobody noticed. They cannot be placed out until the afternoon until garbage pickup, and they must then be removed to the back of the house after pickup. Unfortunately a lot of the litter being blown around due to high winds lately is due to lack of notice of this city code. I keep my garbage in the garage and do not take it out until it is ready to be collected.

Comment by Margy Meath on February 24, 2009 at 9:28am: Thanks for the update Shawn! This is good news. I do think continued pressure re: Thurston is important. It's very easy to either ignore it, accept it or simply stop driving on Thurston so as to not be bothered by it. While i would MUCH rather just never drive on Thurston I make it a point to travel on it a lot as it keeps me in touch with what is (or is not) happening there. I KNOW that it can look better - it's obvious that the attention received by Brooks Landing has made a positive impact on Genesee Street and Brooks and Plymouth. Thurston needs similar attention and it needs it NOW. It also needs sustained effort.
In last week's meeting of the SW Common Council, Adam McFadden mentioned something about resources to rehab store fronts..... I've not heard anything more about that initiative, but hope that we're going to get more than nice store fronts. That intervention has been utilized before on Chili and parts of Thurston and it didn't seem to have a lasting impact. Additionally, we're still STUCK with the ugly green paint courtesy of the 'here and gone in a flash' Cricket stores!

Comment by Shawn on February 23, 2009 at 10:48pm: Your calls and emails helped! Below is the response I got back from the City. Great job everyone, lets keep it up.
-Shawn

Thank you for expressing your concerns regarding the trash and debri on Thurston Road. As you will see from the attached note, we did survey the area and share your concerns. I did place some toter notices at some of the properties. Also I have called some of the property owners and requested they clean the yards, I will contine to call and, as appropriate, issue formal notices. Again, we thank you for your attention to this matter

Georgianna Johnson
Neighborhood Conservation Officer

Subject: Thurston Road
Hi David,

I surveyed Thurston Road/Gardnier for T/B. There were a few properties that had some trash bags out (not in toters) placed at the curb. Also, due to this time of year (melting snow) the street does need a good cleaning. There were several yards and sidewalk areas that have pieces of paper and other debri scattered about. There is alot of debri where the street bumps against the curb (I believe this would bw cleaned by the street sweeper.

When I am at work and as I am able to (when the areas can be seen, and not snow covered) I will visit the affected properties in my area and ask them to clean up (and as necessary cite T/B violations) Maybe we can develop a flyer to distribute that addresses this issue. Let me know if you have additional questions.

Georgianna

Comment by Wendy Sullivan on February 14, 2009 at 5:57pm: We regularly clean up around our corner of Woodbine & Brooks which has several rental properties. my husband uses his daily dog walks to pick up stuff. While it's good to be able to log complaints for big problems, we can all be part of the solution during these windy deary days of winter to spring transition. Those metal poop scoopers are perfect for picking up trash!

Comment by Anthony Fasolo on February 14, 2009 at 3:21am: OMG that must be some kind of health or codes violation.

Comment by Shawn on February 13, 2009 at 10:21pm: I think I got the images to post.

Comment by Shawn on February 13, 2009 at 10:20pm

Comment by Shawn on February 13, 2009 at 9:53pm: Thanks Sheri, your photo, and story are EXACTLY what I'm talking about. There is nothing to prohibit or discourage people from dumping their trash. I have also seen people just drop a whole bag of take out containers into the street. If we can not even keep our streets clean, how can we expect our young people to stay in school and become engaged, and productive citizens? It comes down to respect. Respect of ourselves, for each other, and the community we live in.

Comment by Margy Meath on February 11, 2009 at 1:57pm: Shawn-
thanks for sharing this! Thurston looks disgusting these days and has looked really bad on and off for years. Our MRN group sent a letter to the City and Thurson Merchants group about this 2 years ago, I also have contacted NET (aka NSC), etc.
I (unintentionally) started a heated discussion about this on the 19th ward 'yahoo' group last Spring and a flurry of responses resulted with promises of cleaning things up, etc. We were also promised additional trash cans on Thurston but I am fairly certain that they NEVER appeared.
Dan DeMarle organized street clean ups, etc - while i appreciate the effort and thought behind that, I actually feel resentful that a few concerned citizens need to organize themselves to pick up trash being strewn by people who either don't care or because garbage cans aren't available or are full, etc. The garbage issue in the 19th ward is a systems problem that represents problems that won't get fixed by clean sweeps, etc and it won't be addressed by ignoring it either so thanks for suggesting an organized response to this!
ALso, I haven't noticed it this week, but it seems to me that Genesee Street almost always looks like it has less trash than Thurston. Wonder why that is....?