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Q&A
Council Member Stevens questions DOT on step street maintenance and district resurfacing
1:58:30
·
3 min
Council Member Althea V. Stevens questions DOT officials about the budget and maintenance of step streets in her district, expressing concerns about their poor condition and lack of regular upkeep. She also inquires about the status of previously allocated funds for district resurfacing.
- Stevens highlights the importance of step streets as a form of transportation in her district, particularly in areas with limited access to other transportation options.
- She requests detailed information on the maintenance schedule, contracts, and coordination with the Department of Sanitation for step street upkeep.
- The council member also follows up on the allocation of funds from the previous budget season for district resurfacing, seeking clarity on the project's status and implementation.
Althea V. Stevens
1:58:30
Hello.
1:58:31
Good morning or good afternoon or something.
1:58:34
How are guys doing today?
1:58:35
I just wanted to ask a quick question regarding what's the budget for the maintenance maintaining step streets in the city?
1:58:43
Like do you guys have a budget allocation for that?
1:58:52
This is a budget hearing, correct?
1:58:56
That'd be great, and I asked this because my district has some of has the most step street in the city and they are not maintained at all.
1:59:04
It's similar to what Councilmember Banks was just referring to, I would like to know what's the process around like maintaining them, how often are you going to ensure the safety and the cleanliness of these steps because it has become a dumping ground in my district and there's three ones called consistently, we are calling it in and all those things, so I'm just trying to see what's the regulatory maintenance of these steps because currently they're all dilapidated, have mattresses and clothes and all types of things, and it literally is like at this point dumping grounds, and they're a form of transportation.
1:59:39
So in my district, we all know that we have very little access to transportation, especially in the High Bridge area, and so steps are a form of transportation.
1:59:48
And so I would like to know, in the same way you guys are talking about bike lanes and bus lanes, how are you maintaining the steps in my district to ensure that people can access them in a safe way.
2:00:17
Clean and with light and all the things.
2:00:20
Yeah.
2:00:20
So I need to know what the budget is, how often it's maintained, who's going out there to look because not only are they dirty, it's also dark.
2:00:39
What does that coordination look like?
2:00:40
How often are you guys move?
2:00:57
that are in my district and the the maintenance schedule, what that looks like.
2:01:01
Also, I would just like to know how often you're meeting with Sanatisha because this is a real issue, and I and I think this is a unique issue specifically for me because I have so many step streets, and so you're not gonna hear this from anybody else the way you're gonna hear from me because we have so many and I'm telling you now if I would like to know who these contracts are with because it is not being cleaned and maintained regularly, I would like to know what this contract consists of because we, you know, one we have to supplement so much stuff in my district already and so often I have to send like an ace out there to like do extra work and things and it's not fair.
2:01:32
So I really want us to know and we can do this offline, but I would like to know a full plan of what that plan is for all of the Step Streets.
2:01:39
I just have one other really quick question.
2:01:41
Last budget season, I allocated money for reservice of my district.
2:01:46
I'm still unclear where that has taken place and when that's gonna start because there has been very little communication regarding this.
2:01:54
Although when I allocated it, we had conversations about how I wanted us to work together to make sure that we knew where when, where, and where it was happening.
2:02:11
Thank you.
Margaret Forgione
1:58:47
Yes, we would need to get back with that specific number, we don't have that with us.
1:58:54
Well let's see if we can pull it up.
2:00:28
Okay.
2:00:29
Thank you council member.
2:00:30
So we rely on different contracts in order to clean step streets and we also coordinate with sanitation to get that job done.
2:00:41
In some of their recent press releases, sanitation has specifically mentioned step street cleaning, and then we also have available to us several different contracts.
2:00:53
We have some MWBE contracts that are just like
2:02:03
Good.
2:02:03
Whenever you're ready, we're happy to sit down with you and talk about which streets are we recommend for resurfacing in your district and how you feel about that.
Ydanis Rodriguez
2:00:00
Thank you council member.
2:00:02
And and a further pre commissioner, she also add more detail, but I can tell you I understand it what you're asking and I, you know, anything that we can do to keep, you know, all their stairs clean and beautiful.
2:00:27
Okay.