Mon 12 Oct 2009
The East Village: Home of Artists, Restaurants, and —Trash?
Posted by Jessica Yin under Beats, East Village
[5] Comments
St. Mark’s Place. A tiny portion of the East Village running from Astor Place to 1st avenue is famous for it’s restaurants, shops, and bars. Hundreds of visitors walk through St. Mark’s daily, and on the weekends, the influx of people increase ten-fold. So why are storeowners and visitors complaining? Take a whiff of the air, and you’ll smell why.
“You definitely know when it’s almost time for garbage day,” says Brittaney Mines, a barista at Café Mocha on 116 2nd avenue as she gestures towards the garbage bags piled on the corner. The East Village and its residents are no strangers to the horrible stench that has become a part of the East Village’s identity. The stench is only a partial component of the greater problem. The mountains of trash piled along sidewalks and curbs are the other.
The New York City Department of Sanitation suffered greatly from the 44.8 million dollar budget cut imposed by Mayor Bloomberg in 2008. One of the major components of Bloomberg’s budget cuts was to cut Sunday trash pickup by 50%. Even further, instead of 150 trucks making pickups, only 50 trucks were slated to make the rounds.
Trash collection in the East Village occurs just three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This is not nearly enough to compensate for the tremendous amounts of trash that accumulates over the week from over 500 restaurants and even more residential housing. “There is too much garbage and too little collection,” Minnes says of the trash.
The large amounts of garbage have a negative effect on business, says Habib, the manager of a tattoo and piercing shop on St. Mark’s and 3rd avenue. The streets of the East Village are very narrow, barely large enough for two people to walk hand in hand. With the addition of garbage bags, bins, and boxes, the amount of space for walking decreases even further. “People are always falling on the garbage,” says Habib, who points out the trash along the street. Habib also mentions that when the weather turns gray, as it usually does in New York City, the trash situation grows deeper. “Wind blows garbage everywhere, and when it rains, the trash runs all along the streets,” Habib continues. “It smells really bad here.” However, the problems described by Habib are not the least of the worries by the storeowners. An underlying problem much more dangerous than the loss of customers hides underneath the trash and stench, literally. “There are mice everywhere,” says Habib.
The mice and vermin population increase in those places where trash is more prominent. The East Village has fallen victim to a rat and vermin due to the inefficient garbage collection plans by the city. “Mice and vermin are a huge problem around here,” Allen Maikels, an FDNY paramedic stationed in the East Village says. “Disease carried by vermin and mice such as salmonella and dysentery are highly likely to occur here,” Maikels continues. “The garbage situation is one that the city needs to re-evaluate before people start getting sick. That, and the stink is almost unbearable sometimes.”
An overabundance of trash is the key factor in an infestation of vermin such as cockroaches, rats, and flies. Salmonella and dysentery cited by Maikels are but a few problems that can be caused. Others are the fleas carried by the mice. These fleas can transmit typhus, bacterial fever, and Hantavirus. Though the viruses and diseases described are extreme, the fear and possibility of spreading is present.
With an irresponsible city government unaware of the problems caused by trash, it is no surprise then that the community has banded together to minimize the negative effects of the garbage collection plans of the city. “We pile garbage by ourselves so that it doesn’t take up too much room,” Habib reported. Another group, The Village Alliance, has also come together to round up individuals to clean up the streets of the East Village. However, to all of the East Village, the city needs to clean up its act.
Despite the fact that garbage sounds so mundane, so under control, it still has a large impact on our lives, in negative and positive ways. It is up to every person, as a group and individually, to help keep trash under control and manageable, both for the benefit of our city and for the benefit of the great people who live here, both in the east village and the other unique and important communities that make this great city of ours.
Very well written article. I liked that the article included many quotes. The statistics and the information about the budget cuts was very helpful to the article.
The quotes were mainly from residents, so I think you could have more quotes from officials or lawmakers regarding the trash.
Otherwise, great job!
Very interesting article. You’re writing style makes it an easy and very comprehensive read. I like your vivid, descriptive writing as it makes the reader feel like they’re walking through the neighborhood as they’re reading.
This is an interesting article and due to your fluid style of writing, I found it very easy to comprehend. The opening paragraph explained clearly who, what, when, where and why. You didn’t cram the article with too many statistics, just enough to effectively make your point.
I liked how you descriptively captured the negative effects of the garbage and the comments made by the people who work in the East Village really highlighted the problem. But perhaps you should speak to a politician or someone from The Village Alliance who offers professional credibility. It would really balance out your different sources.
I appreciated some of your wordplay, like “the city needs to clean up its act,” because it fit well in the article rather than sounding cheesy. The last paragraph expanded from the East Village community to the entire city, so it was a good conclusion.
Wow, I didn’t realize there was so much trash in the East Village. I liked how your writing had a lot of imagery so that you could actually see the toppling mounds of trash. That was really great. I also think that you found just the right balance of statistics and explanatory text.
My only critique is about your last paragraph. I didn’t think that it fit in well with the rest of the article. It almost seemed that at that point this journalistic article turned into a position paper on trash that went beyond objective reporting. I think that the ending of the next-to-last paragraph – “the city needs to clean up its act” – would be a fitting end to the article. Otherwise, great job!
Very captivating first paragraph. I could imagine all of those garbage bags filed up in front of stores along the streets of the East Village. Very good use of quotes throughout the entire article. Also I liked how you included statistics and how Mayor Bloomberg’s budget cuts negatively affected New York City’s Department of Sanitation.
I agree that another major problem that comes with the large amounts of garbage in areas of New York City is the pest infestation. These rats, mice, and cockroaches transmit many diseases and give off allergens that cause asthma and other respiratory issues.
THe whole piece was put together in the last paragraph because you acknowledged the fact that this is not only an issue in the East Village, but in the whole city. Great work!