Residents to Clean Up Vanderbilt Yards Trash on Sunday

We are certain that the irony of Prospect Heights residents and others getting together on a Sunday in September to clean up trash in part of the Atlantic Yards "footprint" is entirely intended. In any case, the work will take place this Sunday (9/23) from Noon-5PM along Pacific Street from Fifth Avenue to Vanderbilt. Volunteeers are welcome and are asked, if they wish, to bring garbage bags and gloves (although supplies will be available). An email about the clean-up says in part:

The sidewalk all along the North side of Pacific Street between 5th Avenue and Vanderbilt, is still owned by the MTA. Caring for the cleanliness of this space is legally their responsibility. However, the sidewalk has become completely obstructed by over grown weeds, and illegally dumped garbage. Forest City Ratner has “bully-dozed” the neighborhood. Evictions have sent people, literally out of town – which places FCR as the prime perpetrator of this neglect. In an effort to arguably assist Forest City Ratner in purposefully creating a virtual site of blight, it is no coincidence, that over the past four years, there have been less garbage cans and garbage pick ups, on the street. As a result this area has become a dumping ground. Which came first, the induced blight or the neglect? The MTA has done nothing to ensure its cleanliness. Not BUILD, Not FCR, not the Atlantic Yards Community Liaison office!

For any other building in the city, if a landlord or home owner has unsightly garbage that is not cleaned up, even if it is blown onto their property, they are slapped with fines. Has the MTA received the same fines? Are they once again being held to a lesser standard than other property owners in the area?

We are tired of waiting. We are tired of looking at the neglect that the State and MTA has allowed, in the name of Forest City Ratner, “progress and renewal.” Is this what we can look forward to in the future if the Atlantic Yards project is to plough through?

This Sunday, neighbors and members of the community will come together in a first attempt at cleaning up Ratner’s mess. Four foot weeds can not possibly exemplify Bloomberg’s plan for a greener New York. Brooklynites, it is time to take it upon ourselves to clean up the RATNER and STATE CREATED blight.

Whether one is for or against the Atlantic Yards development, the city, state and Forest City have allowed a despicable state of filth along the Vanderbilt Yards. Given the scope of the problem, this is probably only the first such clean-up volunteer effort. No Land Grab has posted an image of the flyer for the event.