Hello! I moved to Elmhurst, near 43rd Avenue, four years ago, from Brooklyn. I quickly noticed that the section of 43rd Avenue between 72nd and 74th Street (where the railroad cut is located) is a much neglected, often filthy, and probably dangerous section of earth. Recently I decided to "put hands to iron" (to quote Dave Rosasco of the Woodside Neighborhood Association) and try to clean up this 2-block stretch. I started a blog a couple weeks ago, on which I will chronicle the issues that affect the people living in the area. The big three are DRUGS, illegal dumping, and an abandoned-and-open-to-the-public building on the corner of 74th Street and 43rd Avenue. On Saturday mornings I walk 43rd and collect what litter I can (often I fill a large black trash bag just with the debris I find between 72nd and 74th Streets), and I call 311 to report excessive dumping. (People frequently dump construction material and furniture.)
I call myself the "Obsessive Garbage Collecting Lady of Elmhurst", or O.G.C.L.E., and my blog is: ogcle.blogspot.com If you think your readers might be interested, please feel free to share this link. I am hoping to bring awareness to the problems affecting my neighborhood. DSNY is great about picking up the illegal dumping piles when I call 311, and Dromm's office and CB4 have also responded when I have e-mailed them. But the issues we have are ongoing, and require constant attention and nagging from more than one (ie, me) person who lives near 43rd Ave.
Thank you very much,
Emily (aka, the O.G.C.L.E.)
11 comments:
Good luck OGCLE
KUDOS to you. We need more people shaming our leaders about the realities of Queens, especially the garbage issue.
Good luck. Thanks for caring!
Maybe you can go to Albany and collect as garbage our elected?
Over under on blogs like this is 6 1/2 months max. But this one seems a little eccentric so we might give it 8 3/4.
I think its time we go beyond what this lady is doing, as laudable as it may seem on the surface.
Yes, it takes care of the problem in the sense that getting drunk and passing out gets rid of your problem but the next day everything is worse.
If you play government, the system will not change. You can pick it up, and the next day it will be there again.
If you work at this enough, and do not complain, you might even get a pat on the head by a pol extolling your responsible citizenship as an example for others.
And the next day when they are sitting down with a developer or some tweeder group tweaking the system to make it more onerous and out of touch, and not doing what it should for people like you, guess who will be out there in the mud and snow with the rats picking up someone's piss and shit?
No! no! no!
You pay taxes for a reason. It entitles you to responsible government and competent services.
If you took pictures of the garbage like Joe and show the world it drives those that should be doing their work nuts. Follow up with letting the world know about this at community board meetings, on this blog, letters to the editor, and those rare occasions when your pol has a public forum.
And don't get bamboozled if they show up with a stage of commissioners ready to take the heat off them. Center your focus on your politician no matter what some city worker up there tells you.
If you insist on picking up the garbage, deliver it to your politician's office or bring it to the next community board meeting. That would be great theater and get you attention. Make sure the press is notified before you go.
Expand your blog to reach out to others and network into an alliance. A chorus of voices asking why the hole in the budget caused by tax breaks for developers is covered by cutting out your community' services as - roll of drums - sanitation.
I think you get the drift.
Elmhurst got that way because the people were too damn polite.
Joe Moretti said...
KUDOS to you. We need more people shaming our leaders about the realities of Queens, especially the garbage issue.
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Come on now Joe, take a look at what passes for our leaders. Most of them are in politics because they are pretty much unemployable elsewhere.
Nothing shames that bunch.
And Dromm hasn't seen this crap in the streets? What are we paying him for? Hey Garbage Lady, how much $$$ you making to do this? How much $$$ is Dromm?
While applaud the effort, nothing is going to change. Good luck with your efforts.
While applaud the effort, nothing is going to change. Good luck with your efforts.
where do people get advice like this?
talk about a mixed message that basically serves only to confuse and hurt morale.
Good job lady!! Keep it up and spread the word. Also call 311 on all those creepers who concrete over the mandatory green space in front of their houses in Elmhurst. Dromm is useless we know he loves fedder specials popping up all over Elmhurst. He doesnt want the area rezoned and downsized where it is appropriate. That means less grease in his pocket. He keeps renaming streets and Jackson Heights sure looks nice now but lets shit on Elmhurst.
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