NYC sidewalks finally getting trash cans

On April 20, Mayor Eric Adams launched a pilot program aimed at removing huge piles of garbage bags from city sidewalks, reports New York Daily News. In this way, the mayor's office hopes to reduce the number of rodents that are attracted by the waste left on the sidewalks.

The new Clean Roads program will receive $1,3 million a year. It is planned that the initiative will help to remove unsightly leaky garbage bags from sidewalks into closed containers.

“We want a clean and safe New York,” the mayor told a press conference in Times Square, just a few feet from one of the newly installed trash cans. “Wherever I go, I always hear complaints about it. New Yorkers want clean streets, they want trash off our sidewalks. People are tired of rodents. Everyone is tired of this smell.”

Through the program, resident associations can apply for up to $20 in funding from the city to install dumpsters. The mayor said the pilot project will take place in all five New York City boroughs. But it is not yet clear in which areas, other than Times Square, these containers will be installed.

On the subject: Adams will remove the homeless from the streets of New York: they are already creating special units

The pilot program to containerize waste on city streets was first announced two years ago. Then former Sanitation Commissioner Katherine Garcia announced that the Department of Sanitation would work with the Department of Transportation to make it a reality. But the announcement on Wednesday, April 20, was the first public sign that any real progress was being made on the project.

This policy is in line with Adams' stated aspirations to improve the quality of life in the city. In addition, he launched an initiative to destroy the camps of the homeless and forced the police to wake people sleeping in subway cars.

City officials have said they don't know how many containers will be purchased for $1,3 million a year or where exactly they will go. However, newly appointed sanitation commissioner Jessica Tisch said these are the details she and other officials intend to iron out as the pilot program goes ahead.

“We need to test what works and what doesn't. Location, weather conditions, and if the locks work, if New Yorkers use containers,” she explained. “Then you can fine-tune and fine-tune everything.”