New York is safer and more prosperous than it’s been in years, but the city still can’t figure out how to stop people from trashing streets with litter.
Despite a focus on quality of life issues, City Hall has made limited progress in dealing with a problem that has plagued mayors since the days when animals roamed Broadway. Even a small army of workers from the Department of Sanitation (DSNY), business improvement districts, and the Doe Fund still can’t fully police 6,000 miles of city streets and more than 27,000 public waste and recycling baskets on a daily basis.
Two bills discussed at a recent hearing held by the City Council’s sanitation committee aim to increase penalties for littering and illegal dumping, by doubling them or more in some cases, in an effort to curb bad behavior.
