Dyker Heights Gets Trashy

Why is it we only hear about Dyker Heights in the context of its incredible Christmas displays and some of the issues it has with overzealous ticket writers from the Department of Sanitation. (Not that we don't doubt that other neighborhoods have the same issues.) In any case, today's Daily News lays out the latest details:

Some Dyker Heights homeowners are outraged over a Sanitation Department ticketing blitz - and not the short-lived one for failing to dig their cars out of snowbanks.

The most recent spree of at least 15 tickets on 72nd St. is the third to hit the block since Jan. 2, residents said, when a handful of neighbors were slapped with $25 violations - mostly for mixing recyclables.

"This is ridiculous," said Leonardo Fodera, 65, who got slapped with a $25 ticket last week - his third this year. "Somebody is going crazy to make some money to justify their job. This is a blitz if I ever saw one."

The ticket, issued by agent Ronald Thornton, claims the violation was the result of "more than five mixed paper mixed in with household waste placed out for collection."

Like Fodera, most on 72nd St. between 11th and 12th Aves. were fined for mixing recyclables, but others were ticketed for dirty sidewalks.

"The city is getting poor; it needs money," said Aaron Liu, 28, who received two $25 tickets for mixing recyclables this month. "That's the only way to describe it."

More wonderful detail, including a proposed legislative solution, in the full article.