Speaker Corey Johnson and Sanitation Committee Chair Antonio Reynoso Demand $4.2 Million for Extra Litter Basket Collection in Fiscal Year 2020 Budget

  New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Sanitation & Solid Waste Management Committee Chair Antonio Reynoso gathered at Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn on Saturday to demand Mayor Bill de Blasio restore $4.2 million in funding for extra litter basket collection in the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget.

New Yorkers deserve a cleaner city. That’s why the New York City Council fought to fund 14,000 additional trash pick-ups per week by the Sanitation Department in the last fiscal budget. The results have been outstanding. Nearly 96 percent of streets are rated acceptably clean this fiscal year, up from about 95 percent the previous year, according to the Department of Sanitation’s (DSN) testimony from the Council’s preliminary budget hearings.

Now Mayor de Blasio wants to reverse this citywide improvement, and the Administration did not include this funding in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget.

“No one wants to go back to the days when overflowing trash baskets on every corner was the norm. We need those baskets emptied more often, not less. Cutting this funding won’t balance the city’s budget, it will hurt the city’s quality of life. Services like this are critical for our communities,” said Speaker Corey Johnson.

“Our committee is constantly fielding complaints from New Yorkers that there is too much trash on the streets. The solution is simple: More litter basket collection. Yet Mayor de Blasio says the city can’t afford to empty them as often as they do. The City Council knows the city can’t afford not to. We will fight to have this $4.2 million restored to the budget,” said Council Member Antonio Reynoso, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management.

Lowest street cleaning rating per scorecard monthly ratings by Borough and Community Board – 2019 (Average as of April of the current fiscal year)

1. Community Board 3 in Brooklyn at 88.1 percent
   (CMs Levin, Ampry-Samuel, Cumbo)
2. Community Board 12 in Brooklyn at 88.8 percent
   (CMs Eugene, Lander, Menchaca, Yeger)
3. Community Board 1 in Brooklyn at 89.4 percent
   (CMs Levin, Reynoso)
4. Community Board 3  in the Bronx at 90
   percent (CMs Salamanca, Gibson)
5. Community Board  9 in Brooklyn at 91.7
   percent (CMs Cumbo, Eugene, Ampry-Samuel)
6. Community Board 1 in the Bronx at 91.9 percent
   (CMs Salamanca, Ayala)
7. Community Board 16 in Brooklyn at 91.8 percent
   (CMs Barron, Samuel, Espinal)
8. Community Board 12 in Manhattan at 92 percent
   (CMs Rodriguez, Levine)
9. Community Board 4 in the Bronx at 92.1 percent
   (CMs Gibson, Ayala, Salamanca, Torres)
10. Community Board 5 in Brooklyn at 92.3 percent
    (CM Espinal, Barron)