New Alternate-Side Bill Won't Affect Windsor Terrace

Don't worry guys, you don't have to move these cars for ASP!
Prospect Park Southwest originally uploaded by Aonghais MacInnes.

The bill that lets neighborhoods with clean streets opt out of a day of street cleaning is not likely to affect Windsor Terrace.

After a press conference this week, most of the news reported that Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace would be the first places in Brooklyn to take advantage of the bill, but that's because the two neighborhoods are a part of Community Board 7, and it's up to individual Community Boards to request the change. However, streets that are impacted are those that have four days a week of street cleaning (two per side). That's not us--the majority of residential blocks in WT were reduced to one day per week per side a while ago, though it stayed at two in Sunset Park.

People in Sunset Park asked for the same treatment, but Sanitation denied CB7's repeated requests for this, Council Member Brad Lander explained to us. "That is what led to the legislation I sponsored," he said, "to make sure there was equal treatment of all communities, based on (a) cleanliness standards, and (b) community wishes."

CB7 is able to reduce the alternate-side parking because it has achieved a 90% cleanliness rating for the entire district for two straight years (the Mayor's Office of Operations conducts the ratings in some kind of low-profile way so nobody knows which streets they rate in any given quarter).

If we don't keep up those stats, the street cleaning can be reinstated. "There is a provision of the law that states if we fall below 90% for three straight months, we can revert back to four days a week," CB7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer explained.

Additionally, Laufer tells us that the district doesn't lose the funding along with the street cleaning. The budget will be reallocated to other sanitation needs--perhaps hand sweeping in commercial areas, or surveillance of popular illegal dumping spots--but that is yet to be determined. However, the areas in most need, again, are largely in Sunset Park.

I'm sure a lot of Sunset Park residents are glad they won't have to deal with so many cars double parked or circling during alternate-side hours--while it won't make a huge impact, it's bound to have some quality of life improvements. But unless you're on a street with two days of cleaning per side, nothing changes here, so just go on about your business.