Over the past few years, you may have noticed that Lexington Avenue has become filthy — Andrew Fine sure has. The Upper East Side resident says the busy stretch is disgusting and even figured out why: Lexington Avenue doesn’t get cleaned.
“Sometime during the pandemic, between 2019 and 2021, Alternate Side Parking [rules] on Lexington Avenue throughout the entire East 80s disappeared,” Fine told Community Board 8’s Transportation Committee this month, revealing he made this discovery toiling through old photos and Google Street view images.
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“Lexington Avenue between 7:00 am and 10:00 am was no standing anytime, and street sweepers were able to access the curb, sweep it up,” he explained, “Now, there is no longer any window whatsoever where parking is not allowed.”
With no dedicated window for street cleaning, Fine says trash and filth accumulate along the curb.
Upper East Site visually verified the change noticed by Fine and contacted the NYC Department of Sanitation for an explanation as to when Lexington Avenue gets cleaned.
Noting that the east side of Lexington Avenue spanning two blocks from 94th to 96th Streets has posted street cleaning rules, a DSNY representative told Upper East Site that “while the remainder of Lexington Avenue [on the UES] does not have street cleaning regulations, mechanical brooms are run daily on Lexington Avenue, and any accessible areas are swept.”
That sounds good, except for the fact that from dawn till dusk Lexington Avenue is a maze of double-parked trucks with no curb space open to clean except for the bus stops.
“Street Sweepers are no longer accessing the curb at any time, and I stood out to observe street sweepers on Lexington Avenue… and guess what? There are trucks parked in the parking spots,” explained Fine, who serves as Vice President of the East 86th Street Association, “There are trucks double-parked, and the sweeper goes right down the only lane of Lexington Avenue that is accessible [to traffic].”
“This is totally perplexing,” he continued, “if you look at the curbs in the East 80s, they’re filthy.”
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The Department of Sanitation also pointed out to Upper East Site that “all property owners have a legal responsibility to keep not only their sidewalks clean, but also 18 inches into the street,” technically making it the property owners’ problem.
“It’s an issue that we recognize needs to be addressed,” said CB8 Transportation Committee co-chair Craig Lader, explaining that the Department of Transportation changed the signage from No Standing from 7:00 to 10:00 am to Commercial Vehicle Parking during an upgrade to the Lexington Avenue bus lane proposed in 2019.
“We should certainly again try to move that forward and identify any streets in which we don’t have any Alternate Side Parking regulations in place,” Lader added, “Even for a half hour to allow for sweeping.”
Whether DOT has an appetite for such a change remains to be seen.
Great work Andrew Fine. Street cleaning and curb filling needed asap. No property owner in their right mind would clean 18” into the disgusting gutters on Lex – they are cesspools holding 24/7 stagnant puddles polluted with who knows what. The corners at 77th st subway should be condemned or hazmat units brought in. These poor tourists from around the world getting out of the subway in droves at 77 on their way to NYC world class museums must be in shock. And what a disservice to all of our UES residents on their morning commutes stepping through this dreck it’s an insult.
Hooray for finger-pointing and inertia! I’m sure the city will be cracking down on property owners who don’t clean the sidewalks in front of their buildings just like they are cracking down on Amazon and FreshDirect stealing entire lanes of traffic all day for “loading and unloading.”