Complaints about dirty streets, sidewalks and overflowing trash cans are surging on the Upper East Side — higher than in any of the past five years — yet Mayor Eric Adam’s Office claims the UES is home to some of the fewest filthy streets in the city. Needless to say, neighbors aren’t buying it.
According to Mayor’s Management Report, published twice annually to determine whether City agencies are ‘delivering services efficiently, effectively and expeditiously,’ the Upper East Side is among the cleanest streets in Manhattan.
While the report states that nearly just over 1.5% of streets citywide are considered filthy — when litter is highly concentrated along the curbs and overflowing onto the sidewalk — according to inspections by the Mayor’s Office for Operations, less than 0.2% of the streets on the Upper East Side meet that level of dirtiness. No sidewalks were deemed filthy.
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However, an Upper East Site review of 311 complaints over the City’s past five fiscal years — which run from July to June — tells a much different story.
Complaints about overflowing trash cans in the neighborhood have hit their highest levels in 2022 — so have reports of dirty sidewalks and streets between East 59th and 96th Streets, which nearly doubled year-to-year.
While 311 reports about dirty streets and sidewalks come directly from New Yorkers, the data in the Mayor’s Management Report relies only on drive-by inspections from the Mayor’s Office for Operations — a deficiency noted two years ago by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, which he pointed out last week still has not been rectified.
“Trash strewn on the sidewalk is a sight that New Yorkers are all too familiar with. For cleaner streets, the Department of Sanitation needs to clean up its operations,” said Comptroller DiNapoli in a statement to Upper East Site.
“In 2020, we warned the department to make improvements, but our latest review found it did not implement our recommendations.”
To tackle the scourge of overflowing trash cans, Upper East Side City Council Member Julie Menin announced in September that her office would fund extra trash pickups from street corners by the Department of Sanitation and sidewalk cleanups by social services groups.
While the number of reports concerning overflowing litter baskets has dropped in the first four months of fiscal year 2023, dirty streets and sidewalks remain an issue — on pace to exceed the number of complaints placed last year.
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“New Yorkers deserve clean, livable streets” says Comptroller DiNapoli, “it’s time for DSNY to do more to effectively keep NYC clean, safe and healthy.”
When reached for comment, the Department of Sanitation told Upper East Site in a statement that “New Yorkers know that the City’s new cleanliness agenda is working.”
“This administration has made investments in cleanliness at a level not seen in decades," a DSNY spokesperson added, "and our data-driven Commissioner is committed to using every tool at our disposal to ensure clean streets and sidewalks across the five boroughs."
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