John Hathaway (left) and Andrew Aspromonte from the 1st Avenue (Sunset Park) Sanitation garage. Photo by Liz Ligon. Used with permission. The “CHASING SANITATION: Falling In Love With New York’s Strongest” project is raising funds for a fall photo exhibit through Friday – details below the fold.
In the debate last February for Simcha Felder’s open Council seat, eventual winner David Greenfield made a comment in response to a comment about affordable housing regarding the Sanitation garage on 19th Avenue. Greenfield said he wanted to force the City to give up that land so affordable apartments could be built there – because it’s a great piece of property and because “we can store garbage trucks anywhere in New York City, they don’t have to be in Borough Park.” (You can see Greenfield’s comment in video #7 of our debate roundup, starting at the 7:45 mark.)
I’m a little annoyed by that line of thought on two fronts. One, I think its misguided to think our neighborhoods can benefit from the City’s services without sometimes playing host to some of the City’s infrastructure. Yes, please keep picking up our garbage, yes, please keep plowing our streets. No, you can’t stay here.
And second, while the response played well with the YMHA crowd, I don’t think Greenfield asked the people who are actually employed at the 19th Avenue garage how they felt about the proposal to move their jobs elsewhere. (Actually, I did, about a month later.) (You’re welcome.) In both instances, this speaks to the people’s perception that Sanitation is at the bottom of the City’s totem pole.
It’s this poor perception about this critical service – and the men and women who are responsible for it – that I disagree with, and I’m happy to find that there are others who feel the same way. Namely Sunset Park writer Lisa Dowda and photographer Liz Ligon, the creative team behind the photo exhibit “Chasing Sanitation: Falling In Love With New York’s Strongest.”
Mark (left) and Johnny Doz from the 19th Avenue (Borough Park) Sanitation garage. Photo by Liz Ligon. Used with permission. Continue reading »
