Chilly temperatures were not enough to keep dozens of volunteers and several Upper East Side elected officials from gathering Saturday afternoon to clean up the busy, but often dirty East 86th Street corridor.
Volunteers armed themselves with brooms, grabbers and garbage cans, spending 90 minutes picking up trash, sweeping sidewalks and even removing graffiti from the stretch between Park and Second Avenue.
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“It was a wintery day, but that did not put a chill on turnout or enthusiasm for our cleaners today!” said Andrew Fine, Vice President of the East 86th Street Association, which organized Saturday’s event.
City Council Member Julie Menin, New York State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, Assembly Member-elect Alex Bores and NYC Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch all joined in the cleanup of the Upper East Side’s bustling commercial corridor.
“Even though we had dozens of volunteers, we picked up less garbage than usual, but not for lack of effort,” said Fine, noting that “86th Street is cleaner than it used to be.”
Since taking office last January, Council Member Menin has allocated additional funding to Department of Sanitation for additional trash cans on East 86th Street — placed mid-block and by bus stops, not just at the the street corners of intersections — as well as more trash pickups on the Upper East Side.
“All hands on deck!” Menin wrote, tweeting two photos of volunteers gathered in front of the East 86th Street Target store for today’s cleanup event.
“This will make a big difference in the cleanliness of this busy commercial corridor,” she said.
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Also lending a hand with graffiti removal was ACE New York and the Wildcat Service Corporation, which provides cleanup services and creates transitional employment opportunities for New Yorkers.
“We are really lucky in this neighborhood,” Fine explained to Upper East Site.
“There are so many people that care and people that are willing to turn care into action.”
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