BY GABE HERMAN | For a year and two months, East Village residents have been complaining to the city about Sanitation Department trucks parked overnight along one neighborhood street. Now the city appears poised to finally do something about it.
Two local lawmakers have now introduced legislation to ban garbage trucks from parking overnight on any street not just in East Village, but across the five boroughs.
State Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblymember Deborah Glick announced the legislation, which seeks to address the Dept. of Sanitation using a block on East 10th Street for parking. DSNY started using the block after its garage lease expired in September of 2018 at 606 West 30th St.
The bad smells and loud noise from the trucks has led to community complaints, including local residents and politicians gathering at the block to protest on the one-year anniversary of the debacle.
The trucks have been parked for the past 14 months on the block, which is between First and Second Avenues, every night from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., and all day on Sundays.
Hoylman said in a statement that the situation stinks. “For far too long, the Department of Sanitation has used East 10th Street as its personal parking lot, forcing residents to endure rotten smells and extreme noise pollution,” Hoylman added. “This legislation, which I’m proud to co-sponsor with my colleague Deborah Glick, will finally end this ridiculous practice. We must ban garbage trucks from parking overnight on residential streets so we can protect the quality of life in every corner of our city.”
“For over a year, the New York City Department of Sanitation has been inappropriately parking garbage trucks overnight on residential streets in our neighborhood,” said Glick. “This disruptive practice has negatively affected local residents and small businesses by taking up valuable parking space, adding to noise pollution, detracting from our community’s quality of life, and introducing vermin and foul odors in front of residences. I look forward to working with Senator Hoylman to require the Department of Sanitation to find a suitable solution to this problem that has persisted for far too long.”
Other officials lauding the legislation included Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.
“Garbage trucks parking overnight in residential neighborhoods just plain stinks,” said Brewer, “and the residents of East 10th street have been burdened by them for too long. I thank Senator Hoylman and Assemblymember Glick for introducing legislation to bar this from ever happening again.”
DSNY has said that it continues to look for a new space in the area to house the trucks. In the meantime, however, the street parking is a last resort.
When asked for comment after the new legislation was announced, a DSNY spokesperson said, “In a city with a limited amount of space, DSNY uses all options at our disposal to care for our fleet. Street parking has been necessary to keep providing essential services to this area while we find a new garage space.”
