New York City will invest $11 million toward cleaner streets and improved mobility from the City’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY), New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. .
The announcement comes hours after the appointment of the new DSNY commissioner, Jessica Tisch.
Both noted that the investment is part of an effort to make the streets of the Big Apple cleaner and also stated that the alternate side parking will be fully restored from July 5, 2022. This after being suspended due to the pandemic.
On the other hand, the initiative seeks to reduce New York City’s carbon footprint and funding for bike lane cleanup will make bicycling an even more reliable mode of transportation for New Yorkers.
This $11 million commitment will appear in the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Executive Budget to be released later this month.
“We’re not just going to talk about cleaning our streets or taking action to combat climate change anymore, but we’re really going to put money behind these initiatives and lead by example here in New York City,” said Mayor Adams. “To kick off Earth Week, we are committing $11 million for cleanup and expanded mobility so our city can come back stronger than ever. This ad includes elements that have been talked about for years, but we are finally ‘Getting Things Done’ for our neighborhoods.”
“Environmental justice begins at the street level, and clean streets are vital to our city’s vibrant neighborhoods and economic recovery,” said DSNY Commissioner Tisch. “DSNY’s nearly 10,000 employees are excited to get more of the tools we need to do our job of keeping the city healthy, safe and clean.”
The $11 million investment includes:
• A full restoration of Alternate Side Parking (ASP) to allow DSNY mechanical brooms to do their job: Power brooms are the city’s most effective street cleaning tool, sweeping litter along the sidewalk on thousands of miles of New York City streets. ASP had been partially suspended as a measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this restoration is not only part of a return to normalcy, but to the high level of street cleanliness that New Yorkers expect and deserve.
• Funding for both equipment and personnel to carry out year-round street cleaning on protected bike lanes and other narrow infrastructure: DSNY will begin testing sweeping operations this summer using a fleet of 10 micromobility operations machines (MOMs), similar to those used to effectively clear bike lanes during the winter of 2021-2022. DSNY will have several dozen of these units in two different sizes by the end of next year.
Each of these initiatives builds on DSNY’s existing work and takes services for New Yorkers to a new level. During the partial suspension of ASP, DSNY and City Cleanup Corps they continued to sweep the streets as effectively and thoroughly as possible. This announcement will make that job even easier. Similarly, MOM’s street sweeping program follows a successful implementation of these plowing devices, often simultaneously with the cleaning of automobile lanes.
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