The WRBA has written a letter to the city Sanitation commissioner calling for an end to what it considers the unfair practice of DSNY issuing tickets in the middle of the night to Jamaica Avenue property owners for garbage dumped outside their properties. Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
The city Sanitation Department this week promised to investigate an area civic organization’s claim that the agency is engaging in an “unfair practice of issuing tickets to property owners in the middle of the night for garbage dumped outside their properties.”
According to the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association, in a statement issued on Monday, it is a common nighttime occurrence for people to dump trash outside Jamaica Avenue storefronts. Then, DSNY agents write summonses in the middle of the night, fining the victimized property owners for failing to dispose of garbage that they had actually never seen. These owners, the WRBA said, are getting fined for dumping “they could not possibly have prevented or corrected.” Additionally, the civic detailed how the agents many times take the trash with them when they write the ticket, without providing any photographs to the fined party.
“The property owners have no evidence of the infractions for which they are being fined,” the WRBA noted. “This practice not only adds insult to injury; it also costs struggling business owners hundreds of dollars.”
The community organization indicated that it, too, had been ticketed in the overnight manner. In recent weeks, the WRBA has received Sanitation fines at 1:05 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. for trash dumped long after business hours outside its Jamaica Avenue storefront.
In a message addressed to Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, members of the civic called on her to put an end to the practice. However, “previous efforts to communicate with Sanitation Department personnel have not resulted in any discernible changes,” the WRBA wrote.
Indeed last year, then-Public Advocate Bill de Blasio wrote a letter to the department defending the WRBA and calling for the end of middle-of-the-night ticketing. He called for the rules to be changed to mirror those regarding shoveling snow: Property owners cannot be fined in the middle of the night for failing to shovel snow that had just fallen.
“This practice penalizes property owners who already pay enough in high taxes, utilities, and skyrocketing water and sewer rates,” City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) told The Forum. “Woodhaven deserves better, not city tickets that nickel and dime hardworking middle class families and small business owners.”
The WRBA went on to say that it has previously called on the Sanitation Department to end the practice, and for its elected officials to pass legislation if Sanitation refuses to do so.
“Enough is enough. The Sanitation Department has refused to listen to us, and they’ve refused to listen to Bill de Blasio. This unfair practice must end,” WRBA President Martin Colberg said. “The Sanitation Department should use its resources better—with more stings for illegal dumping, or by doing a better job removing signs illegally posted on public property. Instead, it’s taking advantage of small businesses and residents who literally could not have avoided the tickets they’re receiving. It’s frustrating and it’s wrong.”
A Sanitation Department spokesman said the agency would be looking into the matter.
“We have discussed with Mr. Colberg and are reviewing DSNY records to determine all of the issues associated with this case,” he said.
By Michael V. Cusenza
