City Comptroller Scott Stringer last week urged the Sanitation Department to take another look at its overnight ticketing policy, which has had an impact on businesses along Jamaica Avenue (pictured).
Photo By Michael V. Cusenza
City Comptroller Scott Stringer last week penned a letter to Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia requesting a review of the agency’s “overnight ticketing policy concerning trash that is dumped by third-parties and leads to violations being issued to property owners.”
Last month, the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association sent its own letter to Garcia regarding the policy after the civic and several other property owners along Jamaica Avenue incurred what they viewed as unfair Notices of Violation.
According to the WRBA, in a statement issued in October, 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, including the WRBA, for failing to dispose of garbage that they had actually never seen. These owners, the civic 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.
After promising to investigate the issue, a DSNY spokesman indicated late last month that one of the two recent NOVs against the WRBA had been withdrawn. In a letter to the civic, Christopher Klingler, DSNY director of enforcement, also explained that the NOVs “may be issued at any time of the day or evening…” and that since NOVs issued in the early morning hours cannot be personally served, “an officer comes back during the day and attempts to personally serve” the NOV.
In his missive, Stringer asked, “how does DSNY determine if trash left overnight at a property is left by a property-owner or by an illegal dumper? Does DSNY overnight ticketing policy have a process for providing property owners with photographic or visual evidence of a violation with which to determine culpability or dispute a NOV?”
A Sanitation Department spokeswoman said that Garcia had received the letter and is responding to Stringer.
A WRBA spokesman said the ticketing protocol has not stopped.
“A week after telling us they were taking steps to address their unfair enforcement, Sanitation continued their middle-of-the-night ticketing on Jamaica Avenue,” Alex Blenkinsopp noted. “We thank Comptroller Stringer for looking into this practice, which Sanitation has been unwilling to end. A policy that can victimize anyone in the city deserves the attention of a citywide official.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
