Saturday, October 26, 2013

Bank of America cleans up its act

On October 16th I reported on some garbage problems in the downtown section of Jamaica and pointed out the horrible ongoing condition at 165th Street & Jamaica Avenue right near the Bank Of America ATM location, which occupies that spot. For a long time, this corner has been a notorious dumping ground due to the fact that many of our residents and visitors are low-class ghetto trash, who just throw shit down on the ground, but also the fact that there was no city garbage can on the corner, a huge amount of livery cab drivers hang on that corner all day/night drumming up business and throwing their shit on the ground, plus the food and other vendors that are right there, dumping their cartons/boxes and other shit there. Many food vendors will leave much of their garbage on the ground in downtown area. Of course many of our useless leaders, who have been aware of this, have done shit.

Not Bank of America's problem, even if this is on the side of their building.

But when Bank of America speaks, the powers to be will listen. One of my faithful readers, who saw the photos of this disgusting sight, emailed the CEO of Bank of America about the situation, along with the posting and photos. Very soon I was given a number to call Breanna Pennington, Officer/Customer Advocate who was very concerned by what she saw and how that affects the image of Bank of America. She assured me that she would be talking to the appropriate people within the company and take care of the issue.  The next day she called me with the action that was taken and then I received an email from Peter Osborne of Bank of America who wrote me this:
“Joe, I’m with Bank of America. Our property manager met with the Block by Block organization to discuss our mutual concerns with this situation. As a result, a trash can was moved to our corner and Block by Block promised they will pay closer attention to this location. Some food trucks were also asked to move away from the location, which should reduce the trash in the area. We appreciate you bringing this situation to our attention.”
You know damn well the powers to be in Jamaica will make sure this does not repeat anymore, they certainly would not Bank of America pulling out. This very quick response by Bank of America is how all businesses in Jamaica should be handling this garbage problem.  Take action immediately and put things in place to see that it does not continue, unlike some of the shit retail places along Jamaica Avenue and side streets that do not give a shit (but soon their days will be numbered when the major development begins, many are already closing up shop or putting up signs they will be closing). In the meantime, Jamaica leaders need to be on these businesses asses big time for the conditions in front of their properties.

Useless leaders of Jamaica, take note of Bank Of America. They did not make any excuses, they did not pass the buck, they did not ignore the situation, they did not talk about a “magic wand”. They took immediate action and put a plan in action.
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Joe Moretti
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good. But it begs the question: how really connected to the Jamaica community is BOA for something like this to persist?
Don't their local district managers inspect their branches , and ATM locations on a regular basis?
That ATM is just sucking ATM fees out of the neighborhood because how many residents have a BOA account? That's $3.50 per transaction/cash withdrawal. BOA makes a fortune at this location. The least they can do is clean up their act!

Anonymous said...

Come back in 6 months Joe.

Anonymous said...

Very sad that it has to come to this but maybe that's the way to start the ball rolling.

Photograph filthy conditions within plain sight of a corporate logo, include an address, write up the complaint and send the whole she-bang to the CEO for that corporation.

I admit I really don't like the idea that a corporation has to be the one to complain to so that something's done but if it gets results....

Anonymous said...

It starts with this: a couple of kids were selling large chocolate bars for their 5th grade school prom and class trip in June. The prom cost over $200 and yes, they would need new outfits and hairdos too.

One girl bought a bar of chocolate, proceeded to unwrap it and then promptly threw the candy wrapper on the ground behind her. I said, You dropped something.

She looked surprised that I would say anything about the garbage.

I didn't have time to educate (lecture) the kiddies.

It stuns me when an a child who is with their parents throws garbage on the ground and the parents say nothing, does nothing. doesn't tell the child to pick it up and keep it until they get near a garbage pail.

I did point out that their chocolate sales are child labor.

Why aren't their parents paying for the school trip or class prom?
Does all the household money go to beer, cigarettes, weed and pot?

Anonymous said...

Don't forget tatoos, hair weaves, and jewelry.

Anonymous said...

-1

yes can't forget the bling

Joe Moretti said...

Anonymous said...

Come back in 6 months Joe.
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6 months, hell try 6 days.

Anonymous said...

I have pitty for BoA on this one. Having to try to run a business in the middle of a zoo.

Anonymous said...

I would move to Jamaica and I'm white! I think Jamaica would be a good place to live if they just cleaned up the garbage on those streets and I don't only mean the garbage on the ground but the garbage who walk those streets! Jamaica though has slowly seen some improvement since the 90's but still has long to go. My grandmother grew up in Jamaica back in the 1920s and her parents lived there until their deaths in the 1960s!

Joe Moretti said...

There is no doubt that Jamaica could be a very nice place if the garbage on the street(standing still and moving) were tossed out. It actually could be the nicest place in Queens.

I do like living in Jamaica and would like it much better if the garbage issue and some other quality of life issues were fixed.

But I cannot do it by myself.

So come on white folks, come on out. Also artists and gay people too. You can get a lot of bang for your buck right now, but don't wait too long, because prices are slowing creeping up.

Anonymous said...

Anyway, keep fighting Joe. I'm not really sure what your saving, all your neighbors seem to like the look! One street corner down and only 20,000 to go.

Anonymous said...

Joe
A large chunk of Jamaica is being considered for rezoning to light manufacturing. If your leaders vote for this in the affirmative, then all of
Jamaica is doomed and I would sell and get out .

Joe Moretti said...

Joe
A large chunk of Jamaica is being considered for rezoning to light manufacturing. If your leaders vote for this in the affirmative, then all of
Jamaica is doomed and I would sell and get out .
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I am not aware of a "large chunk" of Jamaica being considered for rezoning to light manufacturing. But there is certainly places for this where many of the shitty body shop places exist and they provide very little in terms of employment as opposed to light manufacturing.

Some of you are just so fool of doom and gloom, it is amazing. Is this the attitude of how you go through life.

Anonymous said...

Joe, I give you credit, but it's a forlorn hope. Look at the effort just to clean one lousy corner. And don't forget, that trash comes from the residents most of the time. They like it! They should designate Jamaica a dump and make it legal. Sorry Joe!