🧹 A Cleaner Fulton Street is Coming

🌟 Author’s Note

Hello to the 4 new subscribers of the Better Block Project bringing our total group to 98 individuals working to make our community stronger 💪  It was great to see many of you at this week’s Community Board 3 Meeting, and hear Isis, one of the leaders of the Franklin-Brevoort Block Association, advocate for cleaning up the Franklin and Fulton Bus Stop. It takes many steps and individuals to get things done in NYC, and we definitely took some big steps forward this week.

🧹 A Cleaner Fulton Street is Coming

We received good news this week from the Bed Stuy BID and the community liaison at the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) about increased containerization coming to Fulton Street. Here is what we heard:

1. From the BID, we received news that we may be getting budget for the additional city bins we were requesting for Fulton Street which we originally thought had to come from City Council. City bins provide a place to store the trash bags that are so frequently next to the bins on Fulton, the main source of the problem. With more bins, more trash can be containerized and off of our street. The funding isn’t guaranteed and we don’t know the timeline yet, but this is a promising sign

2. From DSNY, we received news that the Empire Bins pilot is expanding, and we should expect to see these bins on Fulton Street in the next 1-2 years. The good news about these bins is they service the high density residential buildings going up on Fulton, a huge source of trash on the street. We’re going to continue to advocate with DSNY to get these bins on Fulton as soon as possible, as 1-2 years is far too long for us to wait to have the street cleaned

Both of these represent steps forward in trash containerization, but they will take time and we all want this problem solved much faster. What can we do to solve the problem of trash on Fulton more quickly? This was exactly what we discussed at our kickoff meeting of the Fulton Trash 🐯 Tiger Team, with Ris and Tim. We discussed we need to attack the issue both by encouraging residents to stop illegal dumping and ensure DSNY and the BID have the resources they need to keep the street clean. This requires thoughtful engagement with the community and effective advocacy with the city. We’re going to do this by:

1. Building a clear case that the trash problem is significant: We’re going to gather 311s, photos and testimonials from residents so we can present clear evidence to the city that this is a problem that needs to be fixed

2. Develop a clear solution: We aligned we want to launch an awareness campaign to educate residents and small business on why having a clean street is so important. It’s not enough to just containerize the trash, we want residents and small businesses to take pride in the street and not litter in the first place. We also want to ensure we get the budget for increased containerization on the street

3. Bringing together leaders and organizations to advocate: We’re going to partner with block associations and religious leaders to host a town hall in December to present our evidence and budget ask to elected leaders to ensure it makes it into next year’s budget

We have a lot of work ahead of us to gather evidence, coordinate locals groups and come up with the right budget ask, so if you think you can help in any one of those areas, just reply to this message! If you want to help in one small way, the next time you pass trash on Fulton Street, submit a 311 request. Every single data point helps to shed light on the problem.

⏳ Where we are on the other problems we’re working on

• 🚌 Cleaning up Fulton and Franklin Bus Stop: In addition to Isis speaking at the Community Board meeting, we were also able to connect with the Community Officer from NYPD at the meeting. He is going to connect us with the narcotics investigation team so we can start gathering evidence to target the drug dealers at the bus stop. He shared this has worked on other blocks, like Putnam street, and can work at Franklin and Fulton. We believe by getting these people off the street, this will remove the source of the illicit activity at the bus stop, and bring us one step closer to a reclaimed bus stop. We’re also going to start advocating for more permanent lighting, as while the NYPD lights help, they are only temporary. Finally, we’re hoping to get connected to a reporter at WNYC (thank you, Jenny!) to do a walk of the location to raise awareness of the issue

• 🏠️ Improving Vacant Buildings on Fulton, Jefferson and Macon: Andrew and I met this week with Chi Osse’s office about policy opportunities to hold negligent landlords and builders more accountable for trash, rats and construction damage. It’s clear the fines aren’t working as structured, so we’re hoping to develop policy that more effectively incentivizes better behavior.

• 🌳 Simplifying Tree Maintenance in NYC: We heard initial feedback from the Department of Parks and Recreation this week on our questions about tree maintenance and policy ideas. I’ll share more in next week’s update what we heard and how we plan to push forward the legislation.

• 🌳 Building a Park: We heard about a few additional lots for opportunities for Parks this week, and plan to do a walk next week to scout the locations to determine which are best to build our new park!

That’s all for this week’s update. If there are other community leaders or neighbors you know that want to get involved in solving these problems in Brooklyn, forward this email to them and encourage them to get involved. It’s been energizing to connect with so many new neighbors and I’m excited for us to continue to grow.

See you next week,

David