Greg Ahl Defends His "Solution"

In a New York Times article, Greg Ahl, who chairs local CB 10's Environmental Committee, staunchly defended his decision to have the trash bins removed from three busy commercial intersections along Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge -- as a rising chorus of local merchants called for the bins to be replaced.

Ahl's belief, which the board apparently shares, is that the corner trash bins have been illegally used for household garbage.  Waiting for the city Department of Sanitation to drop $100 fines on the alleged violators is apparently not seen as an option.

CB 10 manager Josephine Beckmann said complaints about the alleged violations began two years ago, when DSNY reduced litter collections from twice daily to twice weekly.  The result, according to Beckmann, was overflowing bins, trash on the sidewalks, and "embarrassment" for local residents.

After DSNY doubled the number of baskets on the corners at 69th and 68th Streets, CB 10 claimed the "household garbage problem" only got worse.

Now that the corner trash bins have been removed, business owners at those intersections report that pedestrians are dropping their candy wrappers and soda cans on the street, which could subject the owners to fines, and coming into the owners' stores just to use the trash cans. 

Ahl doesn't want to hear about it.

The trash bin removal experiment ends on Monday, when DSNY will decide whether to put the bins back or not.

The article from the New York Times.

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