Fix the garbage problem already!

Dear Councilman Leroy Comrie, Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall, Senator Malcolm Smith, Assemblymember Rory Lancman, Iggy Terranova, Community Board #12 Members and Other Concerned Individuals:

I have been complaining since approximately March of 2011 in regards to the garbage/litter problem in Jamaica, Queens and to very little avail, especially certain problem areas that I have brought up in the past. I will continue to contact all of you until something finally gets done in regards to this major problem in Jamaica, Queens.

The problem areas that are in close proximity to where I live are the following (attached is a video of the problem areas as well as a link below to the video):



Problem Garbage/Litter Areas:

1. NW corner of 170th St & 90th Avenue: An empty lot with a wire fence that has garbage inside and always on the outside on the sidewalk. This one I have been complaining about since early 2011 and nothing has been done. The owner came out one time in the summer of 2011, put some garbage in garbage bags and left the garbage bags in the lot. Other garbage and litter was swept underneath all of the weeds in the lot. I actually watched all of this happen. The owner of the lot never comes out to clean the outside sidewalks surrounding the lot which are constantly having litter dumped and then piles up. I have been out there many times to clean that area.

2. 170-17 89th Avenue: Another empty lot with a wooden fence which garbage has been dumped in front of it. I have been complaining for several weeks regarding this and no one has cleaned this up. In the meantime, the garbage continues to pile up.

3.Block 9803 on 90th Avenue between 170th & 169th Street: Another empty lot with a wooden fence that has garbage tossed in front of it. Again I have been complaining about this for many months and garbage continues to pile up and the owner has rarely been out to take care of this. This was the same lot in which the large wooden fence was falling down and I had filed complaint on this so many times to no avail. It was Howard Thompson from "Help Me Howard" who came out and did a story on this issue and got it resolved.

4. LIRR Tunnel on 170th Street between 93rd Avenue and Archer Avenue: This is a notorious dumping ground for not only regular garbage and litter, but big items such as mattresses, shopping carts, tires, garbage bags, wood, etc (which can be seen in my video). This is a major problem area for illegal dumping and an area which should be monitored or at the very lease have warning signs up.

These are just a few areas that are within a close distant to where I live. There are many areas all over Jamaica like this and worse. This seems to be the only area in Queens that has a problem of this magnitude and also does not get addressed or resolved.

Please watch the video that I made on May 27th showing the above areas plus some other areas with this garbage situation.

Will anyone stand up and do something about this ongoing major problem? I realize that many of the people who live in this area (and the influx of immigrants) have no regard to their environment and treat this neighborhood like a garbage dump. I also realize that many owners of these vacant lots take no responsibility for these properties, but the city's response to this issue is extremely poor and seems to take no action or very little action against the owners of these vacant and abandoned lots.

This situation is a total disgrace which would not happen in other areas of Queens. Some of you are the leaders and public servant in our community and I want to know how can you allow this situation to have gotten to this point and further more why are you not doing something about it. You all should hold your heads in shame on this issue.

Sincerely,


Joe Moretti