Cleanups of vacant lots by New York City’s sanitation department plummeted last year, leaving many New Yorkers who live in abandoned corners of the city feeling left behind as Mayor Eric Adams pushes a major initiative to clean up sidewalks by putting most trash in containers .
City sanitation crews cleaned 534 vacant lots in the fiscal year that ended in June — a jarring drop from the 1,440 cleaned the year before, according to the mayor’s annual management report released on Monday. The drop is even more visible when compared to the fiscal year that ended in June 2020, when data shows crews cleaned 3,098 vacant lots across the five boroughs.
The lack of lot cleanups came as Adams doubled down on his push to containerize residential waste. While filthy lots festered across the city, the sanitation department showed off new garbage trucks that officials said are necessary to require all residential garbage to be put out for collection in bins.
The vacant lot problem was particularly bad in Far Rockaway, where residents have filed dozens of complaints about dirty vacant lots filled with trash, construction debris or overgrown weeds and plants over the last year.