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Q&A
Discussion on NYCHA waste management and trash issues
1:21:05
·
3 min
Council Member Gale A. Brewer inquires about NYCHA's efforts to address waste management and trash issues in public housing properties. NYCHA officials, including Brad Greenburg and Eva Trimble, explain their initiatives such as daily inspections, containerization, and the creation of a waste management department.
- NYCHA reports 97% of sites are containerized, with a scorecard team conducting inspections
- Officials highlight the creation of a waste management department with its own trucks for pickups
- Brewer emphasizes ongoing challenges, including residents placing garbage next to containers and chutes
Gale A. Brewer
1:21:05
Thank you very much.
1:21:06
And I do have a lot of respect for Nieta as I think I hope you know.
1:21:11
I'm gonna just follow because this is about the monitor.
1:21:13
Some of the same questions with the trash, and the monitor said they're looking at it.
1:21:18
So I just wanted you heard you you mentioned it, but it's still a big problem.
1:21:21
And some of it is shoot.
1:21:22
Some of it is no space to put the trash etcetera.
1:21:25
I would just like you because we are talking about pests and those own things.
1:21:29
So where are we and where do you think we're going?
1:21:32
Then the second with these vacant apartments.
1:21:35
These vacant apartments are really a challenge.
1:21:37
They're not only the mold and the other issues, but I now have all the drug dealers are in there.
1:21:42
They're homeless in there.
1:21:44
I mean, we need some social security numbers to see if that person really supposed to be living in there, etcetera.
1:21:49
So the whole if we're gonna stick with vacant and pests then that's one thing.
1:21:54
But just so you know, there's I got a whole bunch of illegal people living there in in the vacant apartments.
1:22:00
And then just the issue of, again, this is a stretch for today, but when families come in from the shelters, which I think is really important, they need services because they're not getting them.
1:22:11
So I was just wondering if we could just focus on those 3 issues.
Brad Greenburg
1:22:14
Yeah.
1:22:14
And I'll have either Trimble or chief operating officer take them.
1:22:18
On on Waste Management, that is a focus area in the agreement.
1:22:20
We're obligated to inspect our properties daily in the agreement and also containerize and store our trash and container in containers every day.
Gale A. Brewer
1:22:29
Easier said than done.
Brad Greenburg
1:22:30
It's very much easier said than done.
1:22:33
We're making a lot of investments in our waste in restructure to accomplish that.
1:22:36
And we've actually made it very far on making sure we can do that.
1:22:39
But even if you wanna talk about waste and vacancy and
Gale A. Brewer
1:22:42
Thank you.
Eva Trimble
1:22:42
For sure.
1:22:43
And definitely would like to have any specific examples from you.
1:22:46
You can forward them to Brian so we can follow-up.
1:22:48
97% of our sites are containerized.
1:22:52
And we have already launched a team, we called a scorecard team that does inspections at the property in order to see how those waste facilities are working.
1:23:01
And so we're you know, we would definitely welcome any problems that you're seeing so we can make sure we send our scorecard there to follow-up and and advise.
Gale A. Brewer
1:23:10
But then what happens after the scorecard?
1:23:12
So you get a, I don't know, a d.
1:23:14
I don't know what you get.
1:23:15
What they what
Eva Trimble
1:23:16
they do is they work with the property management team to, you know, to fix any deficiencies they're seeing.
1:23:21
If there's a compactor down, if there's something wrong in the waste yard, they will work with the with property management team, the waste management department, and coordination in order to fix those problems to make sure that the trash stays containerized and stays off the street.
Brad Greenburg
1:23:34
We did early on in the agreement create a waste management department that, like you've said, does all of our compact or repairs that we can do in house.
1:23:41
They also bought for the first time, it has its own trucks.
1:23:45
So we can go do pickups even without sanitation, which we do at some of the curbside locations.
1:23:50
So if we can't containerize it, at least we can go pick it up and and take it off the site.
1:23:54
Which has led to a lot of stainless improvements, especially in some sites in Brooklyn.
1:23:58
So it's been a early thing that we did in the agreement to create that department, which has been really successful.
Gale A. Brewer
1:24:04
Okay.
1:24:04
Well, people, not just in nature, everybody puts the garbage next to the chute.
1:24:09
Next to the container, just FYI.
1:24:12
They do it in the street.
1:24:13
You have a nice solar paneled and next to it Mhmm.
1:24:18
Garbage.
1:24:18
So I'm just saying it's it's a hard it's lot of education that goes with it.
1:24:22
So you can have nice, nice, brand new container and rats.
1:24:26
Yeah.
1:24:27
Okay.
1:24:27
So I'm just saying they still need a lot of work on trash.