If you’ve walked around Jamaica Ave the past few weeks, you may have noticed the abundance of trash on sidewalk corners. This is sadly not a mistake. NYC has cut the Dept of Sanitation’s budget which has resulted in fewer pick up days throughout the city.
Since we couldn’t rely on the city to help, we decided to take matters in our own hands. We set up a community clean up day this past Saturday (August 22nd). We were so humbled to see about 30 people ready, willing to get involved and wanting to make their neighborhood a cleaner place. It’s a great thing to see business owners, city officials, community leaders and residents of various ages working towards a common goal.
Our clean up crew started at Maria Thomson Way (85th Street/Forest Parkway) and moved towards Woodhaven Blvd. We separated into smaller teams focusing block by block; cleaning sidewalks, curb-sides, corner trash and even some sewer grates. Over the span of 2-3 hours, we collected more than 25 bags of trash and removed 18 graffiti tags from storefronts.
Their actions did not go unnoticed. We had various business owners and residents thank our volunteers for their efforts and even had some residents walking by get involved as well.
With sanitation cuts, we are hoping to continue these community clean ups and hope everyone in our community business owners and residents alike can do their part to keep Woodhaven clean!
We thank everyone who got involved. It really shows how much we can get done when we work together!
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