3-in-1

Just the other day, I wrote about how the East Village is falling apart, and about urban farming, and about drug addicts.

Little did I ever expect to find all three example in one photograph, on East 4th Street, but here it is — can you spot them?

Falling-apart tree fence.

Mushrooms.

Abandoned syringe.

Good citizen that I am, I called 311 right away, and the Sanitation Department came and removed the syringe!

Sanitation workers certainly have a dangerous job… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #abandoned #hypodermicneedles #disrepair #urbanfarming #sanitationdepartment #workers

Unintended Consequences

Back at the beginning of this month, I mentioned a guy who sells books that "no one would buy even if they were the last books on the planet".

I went over to Avenue A the next day to get a picture of his table, but then I didn't post it! (You know how that goes!) As it turns out, I didn't even save it!

Recently, some East Villagers complained that the sidewalk on the stretch of Avenue A between East 2nd and 3rd Streets was being blocked. They probably intended to impinge upon the New York Sports Club, which is improving the sidewalk in front of their new facility. However, unintended consequences being what they are, this beloved street peddler felt the brunt of their wrath, when his stack of (mostly) junk was hauled away by the Department of Sanitation:

Feeling the brunt of a complainer's wrath.

Be careful what you wish for… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuea #newyorksportsclub #streetvendors #books #sanitationdepartmentworkers

Civil Servants

Some people think of civil servants as nebbish folk who spend the day inside an office, filing important papers. That's certainly one type, but there are others, many of whom we see regularly!

Here is one such civil servant, cleaning Avenue A:

Street sweeper.

And right behind him was another:

Civil servant garbage man.

It reminds me of a song by a band called Talking Heads. They never lived in the East Village, but they were very popular with those who did, a long time ago in the 1980s!


So on this Cinco de Mayo, remember to thank the civil servants, who keep the East Village so spic and span!

#avenuea #civilservants #garbagetrucks #streetsweepers #talkingheads

Storm Drains Cleared in Preparation for Blizzard

I was walking down Avenue C today, when I saw this group of Sanitation Department workers shovelling snow away from the storm drains at the corner of East 5th Street:

Clearing the storm drains.

With all of the snow that's expected to fall, the storm drains need to be cleared of existing snow, to make room for the new snow!

This post was brought to you by the NYC Department of Sanitation, making the East Village better for everyone!

#eastvillage #avenuec #5thstreet