ECB a revenue raiser for City

From the Bronx Times-Reporter:

[Rosanna] Gennarelli has been ticketed for trash a handful of times. The 51-year old has fought ticket after $300 Environmental Control Board (ECB) ticket; Senator Jeff Klein even wrote a letter on her behalf to the ECB. But Gennarelli was ticketed yet again on Saturday, November 14 and Thursday, November 19.

“I fight [the tickets] because I refuse to pay for something that isn’t my fault,” Gennarelli said.

Gennarelli has lived on E. Tremont Avenue between Philip and Randall avenues since 1996. In 2000 or 2001, the city extended a bus stop from the corner of E. Tremont and Randall avenues, in front of Pete’s Donut Shop & Restaurant, up further, in front of five private homes, the widow said. The bus stop is designed to hold two tandem buses, Gennarelli added.

Prior to the change, the city consulted Community Board 10, but Gennarelli, who returns home from work in Manhattan at around 7 p.m., wasn’t able to attend the meeting, she explained. Not only are Gennarelli and her neighbors ticketed for trash, buses and bus passengers often block her driveway, she said.

Some two years ago, Gennarelli purchased a trashcan for the bus stop. She locked it to a pole but when the city Department of Sanitation stopped by to take the trash, the trashcan was unlocked and stolen, Gennarelli said. When Klein interceded, she spoke to a DSNY supervisor who told her that trashcans are only allowed on corners.

The supervisor had Gennarelli’s property observed and found her guilty of no violations. But the ticket barrage didn’t end. Gennarelli thinks that the city uses ECB tickets to raise revenue; her tickets have all been excused.