Last year's budget cuts have led to mounting complaints as the city's sanitation department falls behind on collections and rodent complaints surge.
As the pandemic eases and cities start trying to entice people back to their emptied cores, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "started hiring workers for a newly created City Cleanup Corps— a 10,000-employee force to eradicate graffiti, collect litter and beautify parks" and "pledged to restore some of the sanitation budget cuts he made last year" in response to mounting complaints about public sanitation.
Despite pre-pandemic successes, the progress former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia made "skidded to a halt last year" as budget cuts made by Mayor de Blasio "led to reduced collection, rat mitigation and composting services," write Gerald Porter Jr. and Skylar Woodhouse for Bloomberg. According to city 311 data, "[c]itizen complaints about dirty conditions spiked 150% between March and August 2020, and rodent complaints surged." At the end of March 2021, "waste tonnage was up about 15% compared with the early months of the pandemic," and rodent complaints increased by 80%.
Former commissioner Garcia is now running for New York City mayor among "crowded field of Democrats," some of whom have also "seized on trash as an issue that could vault them ahead." Whoever wins "will have to undo the 'devastating effects' of the sanitation budget cuts" as activity—and trash—return to pre-pandemic levels.
FULL STORY: NYC Deploys 10,000 for Cleanup as Trash, Rodent Complaints Soar
Parked Cars Hamper NYC Trash Containerization Effort
Sanitation workers must manually collect bags from containers blocked by parked cars, slowing a process that is meant to be safer and more efficient.
New York to Cut Sidewalk Trash Service by 40 Percent
Budget cuts will force the Department of Sanitation to cut sidewalk trash collection by nearly half.
New York Garbage ‘Containerization’ Pilot Not Replicable at Scale
The city’s sanitation department says the program, while successful on one block, would be too difficult and expensive to implement citywide.
What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities
How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.
‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.
The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz reimagines its iconic Bus as a fully electric minivan, blending retro design with modern technology, a 231-mile range, and practical versatility to offer a stylish yet functional EV for the future.
Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena is uniting to restore Loma Alta Park, creating a renewed space for recreation, community gathering, and resilience.
San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research