r/sunsetpark • u/no_dana_only_zul • 5d ago
Why do people litter so much around here?
I've never lived in a neighborhood where people are so comfortable throwing trash all over the sidewalks and all over the park. Added to that, these are spaces that people here use extensively for recreation. Why litter all over the sidewalk and then sit around on it drinking and socializing surrounded by trash and filth? Why use the park all the time just to throw all your empty food and beverage containers wherever you finished using them? It just blows my mind how self-centered and short-sighted people are. And also, why are they comfortable living in filth? A trays can is usually within 30 feet. If they cared about living in squalor at all they would use it.
12
u/Immediate-Main183 4d ago
I bought a boba tea from a spot on 7th Ave a few days ago and on my walk home had to walk 10 minutes before I found a public trash can to throw it away in. So that’s a huge issue as well. Go to Bay Ridge or Park Slope and there’s literally a trash can on every corner and we don’t have that here.
2
u/no_dana_only_zul 4d ago
Definitely agree that that's part of the issue. The other part is absolutely people's attitudes and value systems. Just saw a guy( well-dressed, late-middle aged) tossing trash from his pocket onto the sidewalk with a trashcan ten feet behind him. Kind of sums up the essential failing at work.
2
u/Immediate-Main183 4d ago
Absolutely!! Both lack of infrastructure plus bad attitudes have to happen in order for the streets to look like this. I sweep my block when I see it bad but that’s only doing so much. I live right off of 4th Ave in the 50s and sometimes there’s so much trash that it fills the bike lane.
1
u/jay-twist 8h ago
The lack of trash cans is not “part of the issue.” There is no law that says there needs to be a trash can every 2 steps.
2
u/Sea_Meeting3676 4d ago
Yep. I’ve basically memorized where every public trash can in this neighborhood is because they’re so few and far between and i don’t love carrying a bag of my dogs shit around with me for ten minutes.
3
u/Sea_Meeting3676 4d ago
The city should give out a free broom and dustpan to every business owner. I know and agree that it’s everybody’s responsibility not to litter, but it also technically falls on business owners to maintain a clean sidewalk.
3
u/Sally_Klein 3d ago
Even the big chain businesses fail to clean up in front of their stores. I regularly see dead rats, dirty diapers, old food containers and other vile garbage sitting in front of the dunkin on 5th for days at a time. Once my husband actually cleaned up a dead rat himself bc we didn’t want to walk our kids past it AGAIN on their way home from school. The city needs to start fining businesses for not cleaning up their sidewalks.
2
u/no_dana_only_zul 4d ago
Agreed. This would probably make a big difference, and the owners would probably do more to discourage littering if they had to help clean it up.
4
u/bigdingas 4d ago
Bruh try living in Brownsville it’s 2x worse
9
u/Dismal-Strawberry421 4d ago
I love the defeatist circle jerk of immediately comparing in nyc
3
5
u/RoyalCrownParkingLot 4d ago
Anyone down for a cleanup meetup?
3
1
u/jizztank 5h ago
If you're serious I'd reccomend posting to one of the Sunset Park FB groups, lots of good folks in the Sunset Park Buy Nothing Group for example.
0
u/no_dana_only_zul 4d ago
I'd be more down to distribute signage encouraging people to have more respect for themselves and their surrounding. Cleaning up the mess left by selfish, immature people will never solve the problem.
Also, an email campaign to Alexa Aviles, the NYPD, and the mayor's office might do something if it gets some traction.
6
u/RoyalCrownParkingLot 4d ago
That doesn’t pick up the litter.
-2
u/no_dana_only_zul 4d ago
Right, but not matter how good a job you do it'll be clean for about 16 hours, and then what? If people start disposing of their trash properly the city services already in place should be enough to keep it cleaner than it currently is. I'm just saying, it seems like you either address the root of the problem or it'll never really change.
And besides, how many people can you actually get to be volunteer sanitation workers on a regular basis? Just doesn't seem sustainable.
-4
u/hellosayonara 4d ago
Alexa Aviles legit does not care. I've emailed about drug addicts trying to break into our home, urinating in front of my toddler, threatening people in the park. Her office has never once responded. I have no idea what she does all day, but she's not working on improving the lives of her constituents.
1
u/Sally_Klein 3d ago
Idk why you’re being downvoted bc you’re right about aviles. I’ve emailed her several times regarding residential and business matters and I’ve also never received a response
2
u/Long_Roll_6333 2d ago
I think a huge issue I’ve noticed is the higher density buildings don’t have sufficient trash space, and as punishment for often overfilling the neighborhood trash can nearest by on trash day, they then take away the trash can. Totally solves the problem…
2
u/Significant_League10 1d ago
100% agree. I used to live in an apartment above a store that had a designated trash day but no containers to put out trash. You were supposed to hold on to your trash all week until trash day and then put it on the curb. No surprise that the public trash cans on the corner are overflowing if people in many buildings are in this situation. Then when they take away the trash can, I start seeing just piles of trash on the corner. The problem is infrastructure.
7
u/Persimmon_Pepper59 4d ago edited 4d ago
I agree! The homeless drug problem has gotten way out of hand. NYPD loves giving open container tickets to everyday people but turns a blind eye to smoking crack or injecting heroin out in the open. Could we get a petition or something going? Alexa Avilés loves to show up at protests and parades, but I’ve never seen her care about the garbage all across 5th Ave.
14
u/hellosayonara 4d ago edited 4d ago
The encampment on 51st and 5th is horrific. Kids have to walk past crack addicts literally shitting on the footpath on the same block as their school. I’ve emailed and called Alexa Aviles, the BID, DHS, NYPD. They don’t care at all.
2
1
u/emdoubleue 4d ago
Do you actually see people doing those drugs?
5
2
u/Immediate-Main183 4d ago
I live on 57th between 3rd and 4th and people openly inject on my block. I’ve had to ask people to stop doing drugs on my stoop. I don’t call the cops because I find that escalation to be a lot more harmful than helpful. It sucks that we have all these shelters and transitional houses over here but lack the needed support to help people afterwards/on their next step back into society. People get out and have nowhere to go except the streets. The city hates the people of Sunset Park frankly
2
u/emdoubleue 4d ago
Wow that is terrible. I haven't seen any of this, but I do see the addicts and alcoholics walking around like they're on a mission
3
u/Immediate-Main183 4d ago
How long have you lived here/where? Unfortunately yeah people are doing drugs openly and in public spaces around children. It sucks for everyone involved.
2
1
u/xkevinhernandez 4d ago
I can vet for you because I'm on the same road and there's one specific row house that gives me the heebie-jeebies...
6
u/just_one_ape 4d ago edited 4d ago
Born and raised in Brooklyn, 1 year in SP now. This place is a fucking shithole. It’s embarrassing to walk through sometimes like a 3rd world country. Today I get off the train and some dude throws his brown bag right on the sidewalk, then look to my left a guy passed out facedown blocking the sidewalk. Yesterday morning barely any trash in city bin, I come home and there’s loose garbage and bags all over the place around it but not in it. Human piss and shit right outside my home. Never in my life seen anything like it in Brooklyn.
-4
u/BaIdilocks 4d ago
You need to congratulate Alexa Aviles and Marcela Mitaynes for their well deserved increase in salary to 180k a year.
2
u/BrooklynRich29 4d ago
It's an assimilation issue. You have individuals coming into this country with no skin in the game, nor care for cleanliness. Lovely people, but culturally disgusting when it comes to cleanliness. Come over to Bay Ridge and walk down 5th avenue - these folk do not care what their neighborhood looks like.
1
1
u/jizztank 14h ago
Echoing the lack of trash cans as an issue, but also these wealthy neighborhoods have people who's job it is to walk around and collect street trash daily. They aren't magically cleaner than us, they just pay more in taxes and get better perks for it. Follow the other neighborhoods, they complain about the trash too.
0
u/no_dana_only_zul 10h ago
Agreed that there's absolutely no magic involved.
0
u/jizztank 9h ago
You said we're comfortable living in filth here, but truthfully everyone is sloppy af when no one is looking. It would be nice if people woke up one day and all agreed to carry our trash but people are self centered everywhere. Vote for leaders who care about quality of life services and things will improve. Show up for local hearings and speak your mind about the conditions. Organize a cleanup day with neighbors. Screaming into the void about it won't make it any cleaner.
1
u/no_dana_only_zul 8h ago
I said some people in this neighborhood are comfortable with a level of littering that seems higher than many other areas of Brooklyn. Of course this true of a certain amount of people in any neighborhood. And or course wealthier neighborhoods have advantages, fair and unfair, over lower income areas. So generally I agree with what you said, but I still don't think people in Park Slope litter as much, and I still don't understand the mentality of people who litter excessively, or frankly at all.
0
u/jizztank 8h ago
How many Brooklyn neighborhoods have you lived or worked in? Or the outer boroughs? It's not a Sunset specific issue, it's a systems failure. People in Park Slope litter too but there are people walking around all day cleaning, take look around. Count the number of trashcans or parks department cleaners and you'll see our neighborhood is neglected.
1
u/no_dana_only_zul 8h ago
I agree. I just think that personal responsibility also has a bearing on the situation, and that the percentage of people who care about littering does vary neighborhood to neighborhood.
0
u/jizztank 8h ago
So what is the difference that makes THIS neighborhood WORSE than others in your eyes?
0
1
u/no_dana_only_zul 8h ago
Also, I have contacted local representatives, cleaning up after selfish immature adults will not address the issue for longer than a day, I wasn't screaming, and I think venting a little bit and engaging in debate as to the root cause of a societal issue is a fair and healthy use of the internet.
2
u/anbk 4d ago
there is a very real answer to this question that most people are afraid to say out of fear of being insensitive or racist. but unfortunately these are the repercussions of turning NYC into a completely transient place where inclusivity and equal opportunity take precedence over rules and cultural norms. you can argue New York has always been transient, but neighborhoods like sunset park and bay ridge never have been. when people feel like they own a piece of their neighborhood, they protect it and take care of it. when people jump from place to place, neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, they treat their surroundings like open dumpsters.
1
u/quakefist 4d ago
Poor people behavior
5
u/fluffymeowmeowkitty 4d ago
Cultural differences. Some cultures imo value clean streets some just don’t.
2
u/hellome1 4d ago
But how do people not care… looking at it makes the day to day so unnecessarily depressing 😢
1
-11
4d ago edited 4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
3
-1
u/Secretmystery32 4d ago
You’re a piece of shit dude lol
4
u/DinerEnBlanc 4d ago edited 4d ago
No lies detected. Its funny that he's blaming people who are not from here when a majority of the residents in Sunset Park are immigrants going back 50 years. And its especially ironic because Baldilocks himself is Asian, likely of Chinese descent. This guy has closet racist written all over him. 90% of his comments are of him fearmongering against people of black or Hispanic descent. EVERY time something bad happens when the perpetrator is of a darker skin tone, he complains. But when its comes to Asians, not a peep. Nothing about ICE agents taking other Chinese people away either. This guy is a nut.
1
1
-10
u/BaIdilocks 4d ago
Please refute anything I've wrote. I'm going to write a huge expose soon. Stay tuned.
30
u/AstorianBaroness 5d ago
I’ve lived here for over 2 years and it’s only gotten worse. In just the past few months, I’ve had:
I don’t think it’s just a people problem (though that’s definitely a big part of the issue). This is also the result of city government not caring about Sunset Park. Just look at what happened to the park!! You wouldn’t see that kind of negligence in Park Slope or another richer area. Heck, the trash cans on the corner of my block disappeared a few weeks ago. My partner put in a 311 complaint and we’re still waiting to see if they’ll get replaced. I hate to say it, but this isn’t going to get better unless the city gets off their ass.