Trash Talk

My morning walk to the train from Daniel Sieradski on Vimeo.

Here’s a tour of 4th Avenue that’ more or less covers the same route I take to get to the subway station entrance at Pacific Street.  As you can see in the (shaky) video, it’s not just the snow that’s the problem. There’s an abandoned motorcycle at the corner of Pacific and 4th Avenue that’s swirling with garbage.

This tiny corner is home to an entrance to one of the city’s busiest subway stations and the starting point for the growing number of people who call this area of Boerum Hill, Gowanus, and Park Slope home.  At prime rush hours, it’s hard to find space on the sidewalk to wait to go down into the station.  Crossing the street from any direction means competing with fast-moving 4th Avenue traffic.  Add mounds of trash to the sidewalks and there’s even less room for pedestrians.

As City Council member Stephen Levin gets his Traffic Task Force going, I hope he targets areas like this, a prime candidate for raised crosswalks, neck downs, and other pedestrian friendly improvements.  He could also get someone out there with a very large broom.