Bensonhurst Alliance makes Bath Avenue gleam
Eileen LaRuffa, armed with her trusty scraper, was busy at work removing a flyer that someone had illegally glued to a street pole on the corner of Bath Avenue and Bay 20th Street. “It’s a mess!” she told the Brooklyn Eagle as she delicately scraped the flyer, an ad for a moving company, off the pole.
It’s illegal to post advertising flyers on city property. But many people ignore the rules, according to frustrated Bensonhurst residents, who said it’s routine to see a street pole literally covered with ads for moving companies or people seeking roommates.
LaRuffa, a longtime Bensonhurst resident, has had enough. She decided to do something about it. She was one of dozens of volunteers who had signed up for a one-day mission to clean up a section of Bath Avenue on a recent Sunday morning.
Called a Community Day of Action, the big cleanup was organized by the Bensonhurst Alliance, a nonprofit group founded by Community Board 11 Chairman Bill Guarinello and District Manager Marnee Elias-Pavia.