$100 Sanitation Tickets City's Cash Cow?

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that residents of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights are getting mighty burnt about $100 tickets being dumped on them by the Sanitation Department. The department brought in $20.3 million the last fiscal year for sanitation and recycling violations, says the Eagle.

“The city is using this as an opportunity to generate funds, but they’re picking on the wrong people,” said Theresa Maresca, 60, a Bay Ridge resident.

Maresca said she picks up litter on her block on a daily basis. But with a 24-hour diner and a school in close proximity, the deluge of litter is impossible to keep up with, especially since the city removed the trash receptacle from her corner last year.

The Eagle reports that Councilman Vincent Gentile’s office gets 15–20 calls a week from residents who have received litter tickets with angry comments like, “We’re not the city’s ATM machine."

See the Eagle story here.

Photo courtesy of William.Ward's Photostream, Creative Commons license