By COLlive reporter
A new initiative to beautify and clean up Kingston Avenue, the main street in Crown Heights, during Tishrei has been started by a local resident.
Sam Stern, a businessman and activist from Crown Heights, has called upon friends and fellow residents to join in funding the services of a private street cleaning company, which will clean Kingston Avenue every morning.
The street cleaners will sweep Kingston Avenue from Lefferts Avenue to Eastern Parkway every day beginning Sunday for the next 2 weeks.
“Between the Tishrei festivities and foot traffic, it is simply too much for the NYC Sanitation to handle and the avenue looks like a dump,” Stern told COLlive.
“This is going to make Kingston Avenue beautiful and clean,” he said.
Stern donated $1,000 himself to the initiative, and says the response has been overwhelming, with hundreds of residents donating and expressing support.
“Many people asked for this to continue through the year,” he said.
Stern hopes to set up the project to continue, and run on its own.
“The community simply becomes overwhelmed with guest festivals and traffic and our Sanitation department doesn’t apply more resources so the streets become disgusting,” he says.
Outdoor dining rules and reduced alternate side parking have also impacted the neighborhood, with trucks not being able to clean properly.
“With all that taking place, we must take matters into our own hands,” Stern says. “If we want to be a beautiful community that proudly represents who we are and how we feel about the Rebbe’s shechuna,” he says.
“We need your help. Any amount will show you care and are happy to see this happen.”
To participate, send
Zelle
QP
PayPal
Cash app
To
sternnyc@gmail.com or 718 288 3437
Who is doing the cleaning
And what’s the total cost for this month
Would love to contribute
Private cleaners will be hired.
Total cost will be estimated soon.
Every donation counts!
TIA
Whoever is “in charge” of the girls & bachurim from all around the world
should tell them that the Rebbe’s shichunah should be respected by everyone by keeping it clean – it is a busha how filthy it is and the mess also brings rats & insects.- Can someone contact the Hanhollas ? Please make announcements in 770 – this is both a major Chillel Chabad & a real health problem ! Thank you.
Although I grew up in crown heights my entire childhood and first few years of marriage, the last seven years I don’t live there, and I happen to live in a beautiful and wealthy neighborhood, in the suburbs….. And when I come I can’t help notice how filthy Kingston ave is. I think sweep is great, I also think a occasional power wash for the sidewalks, is just as necessary. Especially after garbage pickup. I don’t want to mention where but certain places are terribly dirty, when I lived in crown heights I didn’t notice it. But my husband who… Read more »
Thank you !!!
Wow, finally someone who not only recognizes the importance of this, but is doing something worthwhile about it. What a Kiddush Hashem. Thank you.
Hanging plants from all poles will make the street look beautiful.
!
I see this in a lot of European cities and even in the US, places that attract tourists and visitors. It’s a very beautiful sight.
Great initiative!! I visited crown heights in the summer and it was sad to see how neglected and dirty it became!! I grew up there but didn’t remember it this way. Just curious. Why doesn’t the city do it. Thank you.
Now let’s work on cleaning up the President Street mess
Were is the vaad Hakol
The city should be doing this we pay more the enough taxs
This is embarrassing
I drove through Williamsburg and crown heights tonight motzei Yom tov, and the I was embarrassed for crown heights. The area around 770 and the tent is horrific, truly disgusting to walk through. Let’s clean up all the flags making it seem like a Labor Day parade while we’re at it
You are writing this specifically about tonight (last night)!?
Right after breaking the fast and the incredible initiative to provide food for the break fast right outside 770, obviously there will be a lot of garbage – that’s like saying that houses in ch look disgusting because they have garbage bags piled outside them, without taking into account the circumstances, like if that day was garbage collection day.
The garbage there may frustrate you but let’s try to frame it right and stick with a positive perspective.
Yes i drove through tonight, and there was garbage from 770 across eastern parkway towards albany and brooklyn. yes its beautiful the food giving out, but you dont think anyone has ever been taught to dispose of a bottle of water or a wrapper in a clean manner? its not rocket science. your comparison to garbage on garbage day is pretty obsolete.
I carried mine home, but not everyone was going home after. I saw exactly one garbage can on the way from 770 to my house, and I’m a ten minute walk. We need more garbage cans.
Really goes to show how much of a cash-grab alternate side parking is: the streets are cleaned twice a week, and still this is necessary.
Sam ! Excellent glad to see this I actually paid someone to clean kingston the last few Sunday’s but during Tishri it needs a daily sweep well done !!!
But wondering about the huge amounts of restaurant and other commercial trash (bulky, and often quite stinky) on the sidewalk . Can’t we get more frequent pickup?
(Is it a BIG financial issue? Or just complacency?)
Cleaning is nice
But what I think is actually MUCH more important is shovelling the street corners when it snows.
There is nobody officially responsible for it, so right after it snows it becomes very difficult for strollers to go through, and when it starts melting, it also becomes deep water puddles for ALL foot traffic!
Everyone loves a good idea, but Maaseh is Ikar
I live in (and own) a corner house in Crown Heights. If I don’t shovel a clear walking path on my corner to the street in both directions (north and east, in my case) when it snows, I get a ticket from the sanitation department! And in the case of those corners, if the city’s plow piles more snow there after I shovel, tough luck on me: I have to re-clear it, or I get a ticket. I am sure the law is the same on all streets in Brooklyn. The same thing happens (city issues me a ticket for… Read more »
Yes …its The Rebbe’s schuna and must look accordingly
Yeyyyyy….looking fwd to my next visit there to enjoy walking on kingston. Gd bless you!
I love the action. I’m just disappointed that people have to clean up after others. imagine if every person, every guest, made sure nothing of theirs went to the street or sidewalk, there’d be no need for cleaning, let alone extra cleaning.
Fyi: There is something called Project Sweep that employs individuals with developmental disabilities to clean sidewalks in commercial avenues.
As well there is a Project called ACE New York, Ace New York is a Non Profit program that is affiliated with the DSNY Sanitation, Ace New York hires people with very large garbage cans on wheels and they clean the City Streets, ACE NY recently (like a month ago) was awarded from the NYC City Council tens of millions of dollars towards their Ace New York nonprofit program, BH This CH initiative to clean Kingston & surrounding streets is amazing, and Yaasher Koach to Sam & to all those involved, You are doing great & thank you for stepping… Read more »
How about running a campaign to teach people to clean up after themselves.
Gut Yom Tov! I applaud Sammy Stern on this awesome 👏 initiative. I would love to get involved and somehow show my support etc. If I may make the following suggestions. 1. More/ larger garbage 🗑 cans/ receptacles should be placed out. Especially outside/IFO the local eatery’s. 2. Planters placed on the ground and hanging from street signs and light poles. 3. Nice colorful mulch should be placed around all trees and in general better landscaping. 4. In general stores/business on the Avenue must take much more initiative and responsibility and possibly a grading system with incentives just like AirBNB.… Read more »
Go to them! Make yourself heard!
The signs that get stapled to the poles, every other day, after a day or two, they get ripped down, and litter the floor. Maybe someone should properly put up street sign poles, and the signs can be rented out, and replaced weekly or so.
I wish there would never be signs staples to the poles. It is, I believe, also a crime to do so – street structures are public property and anything attached to them is defacing illegally. But even if not illegal, it’s ugly – I don’t care how pretty your sign is. The practice of littering the landscape with posters is one example of the disrespect the hangers have for themselves and the public’s space. (Creating street trash, which Mr. Stern seeks to address, is another). It’s probably an insidious offshoot of the cancerous philosophy that social etiquette and rules don’t… Read more »
It’s a way of informing people about important events. Naturally, if you’re looking only to make yourself “higher” than the rest of us, you won’t see it that way.
Thank you Sam Stern for helping out as usual.
The problem is also there is no respect from some of visitors, who trash the streets with food and leave tables on the sidewalks.
I will donate. Leaving these messes is such a chillul hashrm
Since covid and the defund the police nonsense, the city has reduced the number of street cleanings in CH in order to save money. One less day a week of not having a street cleaning, makes a very big difference in the cleanliness of the city . They disguised it as one day less a week of alternate side parking. The city also removed many municipal garbage cans since the riots of the previous summer. Thank you for this initiative and may it spread to the whole CH!
The 3 day a week alternate side was very annoying for drivers
Great initiative! We were just discussing how during tishrei we must hire a private cleaning during tishrei as the amount of people and garbage is a lot. On the other hand restaurants must also pay extra this month and have their garbage picked up more frequently, the food garbage is gross and overwhelming the streets
With no itentions to be rude chas vesholom, to all the wonderful ppl in ch, i was there in summer, kingston could have done well with lots of sweeping garbage cans everywhere is a great idea…as is more lights at night on the dark streets
Good ideas. We also need traffic cops at more intersections on a regular basis, especially Kingston and Union. Keep the traffic moving and reduce frustration.
Will this include sweeping tbe sidewalk and the corners?
Those are filthy too.
Great going Sam Stern! Glad to have donated to this initiative. In addition to the disgraceful dirt and awful smell along Kingston Ave, there are streets in CH that are shockingly filthy. Take Crown street between Albany and Troy—especially in that empty lot near the condos where the busses park—it is an ugly garbage dump! This has become the filthiest neighborhood in the city. And now Brooklyn avenue between President and Union—once one of the cleanest—is lined with garbage and reeks!
Amazing initiative
I think a large part of this is educating the local kids on proper garbage disposal
How about we start a fund to clean up all the pritzus on the avenue during Tishrei and then throughout the year. Driving through Williamsburg to crown heights I was appaled at how Crown Heights was looking. All shmutz is shmutz let’s get our neighborhood clean again! #Samistheman
You make a great point! I am always looking at people in the street, and i noticed that many people don’t cover up like they should. I am happy to join your group and make sure to look at the clothing in the street to make sure it’s Tznius!
Another idea- more garbage cans around the streets. I often end up holding my garbage over ten minutes, Kingston is the only street with cans and even that isnt every corner. Won’t be a perfect fix but will definitely help things out.
I’ll bet the filth contributed to the flooding. Ty Sam!! #Make-CH-great-again
The sidewalks are so dirty!
I haven’t seen a street cleaner since before covid lockdown. Has anyone?
Take an example from Cedarhurst; beautiful clean streets and nice lampposts and more.
Please make our neighborhood a place we love to live in!
Gutten Yom Tov.
Thank you SAM STERN!
Thank you. What a nice initiative — and so nice that someone is taking responsibility for something that bothers so many of us, but we don’t know how to make a change. I will participate bl”n.
Maybe we can get the Precinct to add more alternate side parking days and street cleaning, as well as to hand out more tickets to enforce littering from cars and pedestrians onto the street, especially for Yom Tov days. That should straighten things out pretty quickly, and it wont even require any fundraising on our part.
The sidewalks should be bleached; like in California.
We pay taxes, and expect sanitation services in return. The city if new york has stopped cleaning up the streets, but still go around ticketing people for having a napkin on the street in front of their house. Maybe we shouldn’t be wasting our own money on something we already pay for. Get the city to clean up
One of the reasons in CH (and other parts of NYC) Water Backed up into Everyone’s Basements and Ground Floor Levels, as well why there was in some places in CH about 2 feet of water during the large strom 2 weeks ago causing tremendous damage etc, Is because our City Catch Basins/Storm Drains by ALL our City Street corners in CH are Clogged with Garbage/Plastic, the thing with NYC unless we let the city know to fix their problem then there is no chance they will fix it on their own, So lets IYH let them know, Most City… Read more »
“The community simply becomes overwhelmed with guest festivals and traffic and our Sanitation department doesn’t apply more resources so the streets become disgusting,” That paragraph is totally true, But is there anything that any of our local CH Activists/Askonim or Vaad Hakohol can do??? For the immediate moment very glad that someone from within our community is taking charge and doing what needs to be done & immediately as the streets are unfortunately more than filthy. But for the Long Run, Can these Project Organizers or some of the Activist/Askonim or Vaad Hakohol reach out to City Hall? to the… Read more »
Some stores on Kingston and some of the corners are covered with dirt, bulk deliveries, illegal canopies and foul odor. Time for shop keepers to start taking responsibility for the front of their stores… this is unacceptable.
They make plenty of cash from all the visitors, don’t make us all responsible to clean up the front of your shops…
Thanks Sam for starting this great idea! I get a daily experience of how incredibly dirty Kingston can be. On the corner of Kingston and Union is a green metal hut that stores 770’s garbage. On pickup days, the bags are stacked up in the street gutter. They stack up to higher than 5 feet and take up at least 2 cars length. The sidewalk is black and smelly – never washed ever. And it is too often I see a rat running from that trash pile into the metal hut. And 1 morning as I was walking there, a… Read more »
For all those demanding (and rightfully so) that this is the city’s responsibility and that the City should for once and for all clean Their Streets, Our Streets daily, Something to understand that All that needs to be done to have Kingston/Albany much cleaner & much nicer in every way, is to have ALL the City Street Corner Garbage Cans emptied DAILY, Once the Garbage cans by the corner are more or less full (which its kinda almost always full) then every 5 minutes when someone throws a cup, a bottle or anything, it flies away and dirtys out streets,… Read more »
Although on Kingston towards EP yes the amount of Garbage everywhere is from Lubavitchers locals and visitors alike, But on Kingston between Lefferts & Empire all the Garbage on that block is Not from Yidden at all, Its from the dangerous Goyishe Building by Lefferts/Kingston that besides for all the crime that comes daily from there, They Party All Night, Every Night, Leaving all Residents on the block waking up to the street being filled with Garbage all over
How about the rest of crown heights
It’s a Shanda what our streets look like
And the garbage around all the trees