UES To Get More Street Sweeps, Trash Pickups, Rat Mitigation: Lawmaker

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Not known for its cleanliness, the Upper East Side will soon look neater than normal thanks to new funding for trash pickups and street cleaning, according to a local lawmaker.

City Councilmember Julie Menin announced the initiatives in a news conference Friday alongside Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, saying they would cause "an immediate impact in our dense neighborhood that will improve the quality of life in our community."

The headline item is a new allocation of $120,000 to increase garbage pickups from three to four times per day, three days per week, between 59th and 96th streets across the Upper East Side.

Drawn from the Council's Cleanup NYC initiative, the new funding lasts through June 2023 and replaces a previous funding round for four-times-daily trash collections that began in January and expired this past June — leaving the Upper East Side with only three daily pickups since July, Menin said.

The new schedule will be a dramatic improvement from last year, when parts of Manhattan received just two pickups per day amid cuts to the Sanitation Department, Menin noted.

Meanwhile, Menin also announced a separate allocation of $105,000 for street and sidewalk cleaning via the Association of Community Employment Programs (ACE), a nonprofit that employs formerly homeless New Yorkers.

Through June of next year, ACE workers will fan out along the Upper East Side's commercial corridors to clean sidewalks, remove and replace liners from trash cans, clear tree pits, and remove snow from pedestrian crossings, according to Menin's office.

The specific corridors being served are:

• First Avenue between East 54th and 75th streets
• First Avenue between East 75th and 96th streets
• East 86th Street between Lexington and First avenues
• Second Avenue between East 80th and 90th streets

Finally, Menin said she aims to get a handle on the neighborhood's rat problem. As in much of the city, complaints of rat sightings have soared during the pandemic, and especially this year — Upper East Siders have made 569 rat complaints so far in 2022, on pace to surpass last year's record high of 734, according to 311 data.

To that end, Menin announced $10,000 in funding for the nonprofit Wildcat to clean and install rat-baits at tree pits around the 5th Council District.

"The funding provided today will make a meaningful difference, reducing overflowing baskets and helping our City’s recovery," said Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who joined Menin for the announcement.

The news was also praised by Andrew Fine, vice president of the East 86th Street, who has drawn attention to a spike in rat activity along the corridor's tree pits.

"This new, long-term investment will further the effort, greatly reduce overflow and street litter and have a meaningful impact on our quality of life," Fine said.