Quaglione pledges to get more trash pickups on commercial streets

May 10, 2013 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Couples enjoying a romantic dinner in one of Bay Ridge’s best restaurants shouldn’t have to come out of the eatery to the ugly sight of garbage spilling out of the litter basket on the sidewalk, according to a City Council candidate. John Quaglione, a Republican-Conservative running for a council seat covering Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst, pledged that if he wins in November, he will make sure the New York City Sanitation Department restores trash pickups in commercial corridors that it eliminated a few years ago.

Quaglione, who is hoping to unseat incumbent Vincent Gentile, a Democrat, said such southwest Brooklyn shopping thoroughfares as Third Avenue and Fifth Avenue used to receive two sanitation collections a day. That was cut down to one a day, he said. The difference is noticeable, with trash spilling out over the sides of the baskets and onto the sidewalk, he said.

“When I am elected to the City Council, I will make sure that our city budget includes funding so that our can have two daily basket pickups like it use to be. It is the right thing to do for the residents, the business owners, and for the quality of life of all,” Quaglione said.

“I am sure that many of us enjoyed the outdoors this past weekend and the beautiful spring weather. However, it was a shame that, as we shopped and dined, we saw garbage baskets so full that the litter was falling out of the pails onto the sidewalk,” he said.

“In the meantime, I am encouraging any interested person, civic group, building manager or business owner, to sign up to be part of the Department of Sanitation’s ‘Adopt-A-Basket’ program to help keep our community clean. The Sanitation Department provides a supply of plastic liners, and asks that the pail adopted be monitored. It’s a great way for residents to help improve our neighborhood,” Quaglione said.

The garbage bags collected from city pails can be placed outside for sanitation pickup on their next scheduled pick up. For more information on “Adopt-A-Basket” call 311.