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Q&A
Discussion on DSNY's lot cleaning program and its funding
0:32:11
·
3 min
Council Member Brannan inquires about the additional funding for DSNY's lot cleaning program and its effectiveness in addressing the backlog of cleaning requests. DSNY officials explain the current situation and how they prioritize lot cleaning.
- Additional funding of $826,000 in FY '26, growing to $1,600,000 baseline in out years
- Current backlog of 1,773 lots to be cleaned
- Prioritization based on access warrants, health risks, proximity to schools/parks, and 311 requests
Justin Brannan
0:32:11
I just have one or two more and I want to hand it over to the chair.
0:32:14
Lot cleaning.
0:32:17
The executive plan includes an additional $826,000 in FY '26 which grows to $1,600,000 baseline in the out years for the DSNY lot cleaning program.
0:32:28
In the first four months of FY '25, DSNY received a little over 1,400 lot cleaning requests but only managed to clean 26 lots.
0:32:39
So how will the additional funding enable DSNY to close that gap of service?
Javier Lojan
0:32:46
So the additional funding allows us to maintain that level of service.
0:32:52
You know, a a lot of times, we are we have to manage across the five boroughs, so, we were funding previously at a historical historical higher numbers.
0:33:02
Right now, with the positions that we have funded in this executive budget, we're able to just maintain the more critical lots where our, you know, we have access warrants or, you know, if there's any kind of safety issues where we see any needles or rack complaints.
0:33:15
So we try to prioritize where necessary.
Justin Brannan
0:33:19
So you're confident that that money would help close that gap?
Javier Lojan
0:33:23
So it'll it will help us maintain the current level of service.
0:33:26
I I don't know if it'll help us close that gap that much quicker.
Justin Brannan
0:33:30
Alright.
0:33:30
But current level of service, FY '25, you had 1,400 requests and it says only 26 lots were cleaned.
Javier Lojan
0:33:36
Correct.
0:33:36
So that's the same amount of staffing we have right now for lot cleaning.
Justin Brannan
0:33:41
So the additional funding added in the executive budget is not really gonna make a demonstrable difference?
Javier Lojan
0:33:46
It's gonna make a difference.
0:33:48
I don't think it's going to help us close that large gap.
Justin Brannan
0:33:51
How much do you think you need?
Javier Lojan
0:33:53
So, I mean, we could always do more.
0:33:56
We have been previously funded at higher levels, so we'd have to kind of explore and see what that need would be.
0:34:03
But right now, would just allow us to keep the maintain the current level of service.
Justin Brannan
0:34:08
What what's the can you tell us what the current backlog is of of lot cleaning requests that haven't been addressed?
Javier Lojan
0:34:15
Sure.
0:34:15
There are about 1,773 lots in backlog.
Justin Brannan
0:34:20
Best budget ever.
0:34:23
Can you tell us what so the the additional money, what will that get us in terms of staff positions or expanded service hours, that kind of thing?
Javier Lojan
0:34:36
For lock cleaning?
0:34:37
Yeah.
0:34:38
So it's about it's 15 positions.
0:34:41
It's about 10 daily heads.
0:34:44
That's that's generally what we we would run on a daily basis.
0:34:48
And then depending on how large the lot sizes are, it depends on how many we can close within a week.
Justin Brannan
0:34:56
Okay.
0:34:58
And how do you how do you triage that?
0:35:00
If you've got 1,700 open cases, how do you triage which one to do first?
Javier Lojan
0:35:05
So any so we always focus on ones that have any open access warrants.
0:35:11
So some of the private lots, need to get an access warrant through DOHMH.
0:35:15
Obviously, the more egregious ones that pose any kind of health risks, whereas high concentration of rats or needles, any lot close to a school, any lot close to a park.
0:35:26
And then obviously where we see high concentrations of three one one's are executive correspondence requests.
Justin Brannan
0:35:33
Has the department explored any partnerships with other city agencies or CBOs to assist?
Javier Lojan
0:35:40
Well, sometimes we get assistance from HPD, but that's really, you know, right now that's really the only partnership that we have in some of these locations.
Justin Brannan
0:35:49
Okay.