Van Bramer joined ACE at 48th Street & 47th Avenue in Woodside (Photo: Office of Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer)
Aug. 12, 2021 By Christian Murray
A dedicated crew of workers will be keeping a long list of streets in western Queens clean stemming from a new allocation of city funds by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer.
Van Bramer said that his office has allocated $270,000 to a non-profit organization that will be bringing on six dedicated workers to sweep streets, pick up trash and clean graffiti throughout Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City and Astoria.
This year’s initiative builds on clean-up programs that Van Bramer first put in place in 2012 and has expanded since.
In 2012, Van Bramer first brought a dedicated crew to clean up the commercial district of Woodside, before bringing the service to Hunters Point in 2013 and then Dutch Kills in 2014. The amount allocated to clean those areas last year was $150,000.
This year there will be an extra $120,000 to spend and the coverage area will include additional streets in areas such as Sunnyside and Astoria.
The new coverage area includes 43rd, 48th and Skillman avenues in Sunnyside. The coverage area also includes additional streets in Woodside and Long Island City (see list below).
ACE workers in Western Queens
“What we are going to see is a massive scaling up of routes,” Van Bramer said in an interview. “The thoroughfares are going to be cleaned and there will be additional staff to do it.”
Van Bramer said that the non-profit organization ACE, formally known as The Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, will be in charge of maintaining the streets.
The workers are part of an ACE program where they are provided jobs as well as supplemental training in various fields. Most of the workers come from homeless shelters, drug dependency centers as well as prisons.
“I feel really good about the program,” Van Bramer said. “It’s also a good use of taxpayer dollars to keep the streets clean. People’s quality of life matters a great deal to me.”
Van Bramer is kicking off the program today with an event at 48th Avenue and 47th Street.
There are several commercial streets that are not part of Van Bramer’s coverage area.
Most of these streets are cleaned by organizations hired by Business Improvement Districts. BIDs, such as Sunnyside Shines and the Long Island City Partnership, hire workers to keep their respective zones clean.
The list of streets that will be cleaned in the 2021/2022 year. The regular areas will be cleaned on an ongoing basis. The monitored areas will be cleaned at regular intervals. (Source: Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer’s office)
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12 Comments
Jimmy Van Bramer should run for Gov. of NY.
We are paying the street sweepers to do the job that business owners and sanitation workers should be doing.. The city trash cans without the sweepers are a mess. And in those areas landlords get ticketed for dirty areas. I know because i got a ticket. And fighting it does not do a thing despite providing proof that the nearby city trash are to blame.
Mr. Van Bramer, how about addressing and removing the homeless squatters, their debris and excrement from under the 7 Train at 46 Street as well as directly across the street from your office on Queens Boulevard. Surely, you see and smell that. Why are you ignoring that blatant, long standing violation of public property?
SS Post!! Jimmy didn’t vote for the budget!! Stop saying he funded programs. You don’t vote against funding the city and then get credit for programs funded by the city. Every article should review the fact he voted against funding the program that he think is so important. Ask the question why he choose not to fund the program he “loves and supports” every time he sends one of these photo ops press releases. Just because jvb is persona non grata doesn’t mean SS post should give him a pass.
Let’s be honest about this, the bike lanes create a trash problem because the City sweep trucks can’t get to that space. So the outcome is that bike lanes on 43rd Avenue and Skillman Avenue a accumulate garbage. Of course, this wasn’t “planned” for when bike lanes were created. Not politically correct.
Actually street cleaning parking laws are still in effect! Bike lanes didn’t magically erase them. That’s why they get cleaned regularly. WOW you’re out of the loop!
Jimmy V did a good job here.
while this of course is not a bad thing, how about people Stop littering..its not that hard to do!
Cleaning under the number 7 train is a great effort. What will improve the neighborhood
even more is relocating the homeless who have taken up residence there and who use the streets as a public toilet.
Why is a woman with a huge amount of garbage allowed to just take up permanent residence under the 7 train station at 46th street? Why are illegal vendors who are competing with minority owned businesses allowed to sell their wares under the 46th street station. Why are scooters allowed to ride anywhere and in any direction they want? Because liberal and minority politicians will not crack down on crime committed by people of color. Wait until Julie Won takes over. She will make Can make Van Bramer look like Trump.
“Why are illegal vendors who are competing with minority owned businesses allowed to sell their wares under the 46th street station”
Because we are in a pandemic!!! Not everyone is a senators son!
Hopefully Caban will do the same. Astoria is a mess. The current city council member of Astoria has been quiet and does not do much now that his term is almost finished. Just hope Caban doesnt give rikers island prisoners a day pass to sweep. Please hire homeless.