Trash Piled Up On UWS Amid Vaccine Mandate Enforcement: Data

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Garbage piled up on the Upper West Side over the past 11 days, amid a slowdown in sanitation services coinciding with the newly imposed vaccination mandate for city works, according to 311 data.

Since Oct. 25, residents living in the 10025, 10024, and 10023 ZIP codes have made 66 complaints to 311 about missed trash pickups on the Upper West Side, according to city records. That's exactly triple the complaints made the previous week in the same area when just 22 were filed.

In a bit of good news, though, those complaints have fallen drastically in the past few days.

The deadline for city workers to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination was Friday afternoon. On Monday, workers who had not gotten a shot were put on unpaid leave.

In the days before the mandate took effect, New Yorkers began complaining of missed garbage pickups. Initially most prevalent in Staten Island and south Brooklyn, the trend has since spread to Manhattan neighborhoods, according to 311 data.

The missed trash collections were widespread on the Upper West Side.

Here's every UWS address where a resident has made a complaint about missed trash pickup since Oct. 25.

• 150 WEST 96 STREET
• 307 WEST 103 STREET
• 136 WEST 73 STREET
• 993 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 993 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 351 WEST 71 STREET
• 24 WEST 70 STREET
• 351 WEST 71 STREET
• 303 WEST 66 STREET
• 303 WEST 66 STREET
• 300 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 20 WEST 74 STREET
• 1930 BROADWAY
• 351 WEST 71 STREET
• 251 WEST 74 STREET
• 292 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 307 WEST 103 STREET
• 8 WEST 71 STREET
• 50 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 60 WEST 76 STREET
• 109 WEST 89 STREET
• 120 WEST 86 STREET
• 942 COLUMBUS AVENUE
• 189 WEST 89 STREET
• 159 WEST 82 STREET
• 103 WEST 71 STREET
• 100 WEST 78 STREET
• 201 WEST 81 STREET
• 345 WEST 70 STREET
• 251 WEST 76 STREET
• 351 WEST 71 STREET
• 333 WEST 71 STREET
• 243 WEST END AVENUE
• 152 WEST 66 STREET
• 942 COLUMBUS AVENUE
• 152 WEST 66 STREET
• 103 WEST 71 STREET
• 309 WEST 71 STREET
• 269 WEST 87 STREET
• 985 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 311 WEST 74 STREET
• 156 WEST 95 STREET
• 354 CENTRAL PARK WEST
• 155 WEST 83 STREET
• 251 WEST 76 STREET
• 329W WEST 108 STREET
• 211 WEST 105 STREET
• 17 WEST 95 STREET
• 303 WEST 66 STREET
• 152 WEST 66 STREET
• 146 WEST 74 STREET
• 337 WEST 71 STREET
• 2731 BROADWAY
• 211 WEST 105 STREET
• 2731 BROADWAY
• 400 WEST 113 STREET
• 335 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 565 WEST END AVENUE
• 33 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 203 WEST 87 STREET
• 200 WEST 109 STREET
• 328 WEST 101 STREET
• 310 WEST 72 STREET
• 385 WEST END AVENUE
• 333 WEST 88 STREET
• 344 WEST 87 STREET
• 316 WEST 79 STREET
• 170 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 160 WEST 85 STREET
• 292 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 153 WEST 78 STREET
• 29 WEST 82 STREET
• 38 DUKE ELLINGTON BOULEVARD
• 170 WEST 78 STREET
• 115 WEST 71 STREET
• 315 WEST 102 STREET
• 171 WEST 79 STREET
• 127 WEST 78 STREET
• 105 WEST 73 STREET
• 101 WEST 77 STREET
• 115 WEST 73 STREET
• 171 WEST 79 STREET
• 130 WEST 78 STREET
• 2728 BROADWAY
• 307 WEST 103 STREET
• 266 WEST 73 STREET
• 325 WEST 76 STREET
• 235 WEST 76 STREET
• 350 WEST 71 STREET
• 316 WEST 88 STREET
• 229 WEST 60 STREET
• 254 WEST 103 STREET
• 245 WEST 99 STREET
• 306 WEST 77 STREET
• 210 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 170 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 203 WEST 107 STREET
• 324 WEST 71 STREET
• 110 WEST END AVENUE
• 201 WEST 98 STREET
• 21 WEST 100 STREET
• 24 WEST 96 STREET
• 10 WEST 83 STREET
• 211 WEST 105 STREET
• 265 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 26 WEST 89 STREET
• 72 WEST 85 STREET
• 431 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 431 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 993 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 49 WEST 72 STREET
• 942 COLUMBUS AVENUE
• 420 CENTRAL PARK WEST
• 128 WEST 71 STREET
• 993 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 993 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 431 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
• 908 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 155 WEST 74 STREET
• 2731 BROADWAY
• 258 WEST 99 STREET
• 240 WEST 72 STREET
• 993 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 993 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
• 324 WEST 74 STREET

Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested last week the trend was caused by workers staying home to express opposition to the mandate. On Monday, Sanitation Commissioner Ed Grayson vowed that pickups would resume a normal schedule by later that afternoon.

This appears to be true — on Monday and Tuesday, there were only three complaints on the Upper West Side about missed trash collections.

As of Sunday, 82 percent of Sanitation workers had gotten at least one vaccine dose — a 20 percent increase since Oct. 19, but still the sixth-lowest of any city agency.

Despite the hiccups in agencies like Sanitation and the FDNY, De Blasio's administration has touted the mandates for managing to compel thousands of city workers to get their shots. Some agencies, he noted Monday, had seen double-digit percentage-point increases in vaccination status leading up to this week.

In total, 91 percent of city workers had gotten vaccinated by Monday, while about 9,000 people were put on unpaid leave this week for failing to get their shots, de Blasio said.

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.