Get a Broom and Shovel
COURIER LIFE, MARCH 5-11, 2021 25
BY ED JAWORSKI
Normally, my habit is to
sweep outside our house once
or twice a week. Of course,
this winter shoveling snow
has been a preoccupation.
As it all melts, I’ll sweep up
the debris that’s been hiding
under the snow.
Simple observation while
walking through most neighborhoods
would tell you that,
while many people shovel
snow, very few sweep litter.
(Unless, it’s a “Business Improvement
District” with a
private clean-up crew).
In his “State of the City”
address, Mayor Bill de Blasio
proposed creating a “City
Cleanup Corps” employing
10,000 New Yorkers to work
on beautifi cation across New
York City. The Corp’s employees
would work with community
organizations in various
ways to clean neighborhoods.
Meantime, last spring,
New York State Senator Simcha
Felder, Assemblyman
Simcha Eichenstein, and
City Councilmember Kalman
Yeger urged that the City’s
Sanitation Department dismiss
and stop issuing littering
violations, that they are “gotcha
tickets,” that the cited homeowners
were largely staying
indoors, that it’s diffi cult
to sweep around parked cars
when alternate parking is suspended,
and that “DSNY’s enforcers
are non-essential.”
Litter has long been a signifi
cant quality of life issue in
many places. During the fall
of 2018, our southern Brooklyn
civic association planned a
community-wide “Litter-Free
Week”—for which Brooklyn
Borough President Eric Adams
issued a Proclamation,
but which saw almost no cooperation.
Though owners of homes,
businesses and buildings are
supposed to keep sidewalks
clean, including of snow, plus
18 inches from the curb into
the street (including corner
catch basins), homeowners
especially seem to ignore the
litter. The pride of having litter
free property seemingly
ceased years before COVID19.
On top of the candy wrappers,
coffee cups, old leaves,
soda cans, and various papers
blowing in the wind, dropped
by pedestrians, or tossed from
cars, the corona virus has
brought new litter into the picture:
disposable gloves, masks
and tissues, which potentially
carry various germs.
I’m not sure how the suggestion
of the electeds to suspend
or eliminate violations
and enforcers would have removed
trash from sidewalks.
Even while the shelter-in-home
recommendation was in place,
why couldn’t people go outside
with gloves, masks, brooms,
shovels and trash containers
to sweep? And, if they need
these items, electeds should
hand them out —even demonstrate
how to use them!
Indeed, City offi cials obviously
recognized the fallacy
and rejected the proposal,
leaving it to individuals to
fi ght their own tickets.
Further, I submit, rather
than creating a “Cleanup
Corp,” the Mayor—as well as
mayoral candidates-- should
develop a plan to educate and
get property owners to clean
up sidewalks and curbsides.
Consider that catch basins,
many covered with snow
the past few weeks, but normally
home to plastic bags (often
fi lled with dog poop) and
leaves, create fl ooded intersections
during storms and from
melting ice, and will become
more vulnerable if gloves and
face masks clog sewer lines.
Residents and shop owners
should take interest in the environment
and the attractiveness
of blocks. They should
also become familiar with
the Sanitation Department’s
“Rules and Regulations.”
I learned to pick up litter
around age nine, when
my parents bought a house
in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush
neighborhood. On Saturday
mornings, before going to play
with friends, I had to sweep debris
from in front of the house.
It became a habit.
So, before turning on their
electronic devices, I suggest
that children should complete
a chore, for example:
Sweep! Learn to take pride in
your home and neighborhood.
Now, I’m 76 and remain one of
the few “regular sweepers” on
my block.
Ed Jaworski is the Executive
Vice President of the Madison
Marine-Homecrest Civic
Association.
OP-ED
The challenge of vaccinating the homeless
BY DR. VAN YU
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines
has been slow and messy.
Supplies have been low, procedures
have been rigid and
complicated, communications
have been inadequate and contradictory,
and the threat of
fi nes has inhibited full utilization.
There are several categories
of people currently
eligible for vaccines, including
those over 65, healthcare
workers, teachers, individuals
with certain underlying conditions,
and people experiencing
homelessness and living in
shelters. For New Yorkers who
are experiencing homelessness,
there is an urgent need
for vaccination in order to protect
some of our most vulnerable
citizens who face multiple
obstacles to vaccination.
Here’s what we need to take
into consideration for vaccinating
our neighbors experiencing
homelessness.
As supplies expand, effectively
vaccinating New York
City’s homeless population
will require a commitment
to address both the logistical
challenge of getting arms and
vaccine in the same location
and also vaccine hesitancy.
Accomplishing this will require
multiple pathways, including
with providers who
are familiar with how to care
for individuals experiencing
homelessness — the campaign
must offer choice and trust.
People who are homeless
suffer from a high burden of
conditions that make them
more susceptible to severe
COVID-19 and death while facing
many challenges to accessing
care. During the height of
the pandemic New York City
moved homeless individuals
from congregate shelters into
hotel rooms where it is easier
to maintain social distancing,
but there are still congregate
settings in places like safe
havens, drop-in centers and
church bed programs that are
at risk of outbreaks.
A signifi cant number of
people who are homeless and
living with serious mental illness
or chronic medical illness
do not access regular clinical
care in healthcare settings.
So, not surprisingly, while
the city has thus far set up a
vaccination Point of Dispensing
for shelters, it has been a
logistical challenge to transport
people there. More access
points are needed. Healthcare
for people who are homeless is
mostly provided where people
access other services including
at shelters, safe havens,
drop-in centers, and even outside.
The same approach will
need to be adopted to achieve
a high rate of vaccination—we
are going to have to vaccinate
people where they’re at instead
of counting on people to
come to the vaccine.
Since last summer, the Department
of Homeless Services
has had teams perform
COVID-19 tests and offer fl u
vaccines at shelters and safe
havens. Pivoting this kind of
operation to COVID vaccine
administration could reach
people who can’t or won’t
make it to a mass vaccination
site. Even this effort, however,
was hampered by a hesitancy
to accept testing or vaccine or
both, and we are not surprisingly
encountering hesitancy
to accept COVID vaccines.
People who are homeless
understandably prioritize basic
needs of shelter, safety and
food over healthcare. But at
the same time, there can be a
mistrust of the medical establishment
and COVID vaccines
in particular. This mistrust
is exacerbated by a glaring
racial disparity among people
who are homeless in New
York City, with a nearly opposite
disparity among healthcare
providers. The Center for
Urban Community Services
(CUCS) healthcare providers
apply lessons of person-centered
care and harm reduction
to successfully outreach,
engage and nurture effective
healthcare relationships with
our patients. It is through
these relationships that people
accept care after years of neglect,
and it is through these
relationships that people’s hesitancy
will be softened. If the
vaccine is to reach as widely as
possible, trusted community
providers must be enlisted
and vaccines will need to get
into the fi eld.
Vaccines are not simply
medicine. The success of vaccine
campaigns also depends
on the relationship between
communities and authority.
Access can not only be determined
by the healthcare infrastructure
and storage requirements,
distribution must also
work for people where they
are. Acceptance will not hinge
on data and goodwill, trusted
partners must be enlisted, or
new trust must be earned.
The well-being of our city
depends upon our commitment
to reach its most vulnerable.
Dr. Van Yu is the Chief
Medical Offi cer at the Center
for Urban Community Services
(CUCS).