By Anthony Rifilato
Litter and garbage violators are increasingly being targeted by the district's division of Code Enforcement. Officials said the district has committed itself to quality-of-life issues by stepping up enforcement and adopting several new initiatives that are expected to turn Baldwin's image around.
"Litter begets litter," said Jerry Brown, the district's chairman. "Litter is the first indication that a town is going downhill."
In the hope of staving off a future quality-of-life crisis, the code-enforcement board has issued more warnings to businesses about violations. It has also proposed street cleaning and alternate-side-of-the-street parking legislation, developed broad-based partnerships with businesses and municipal agencies, and adopted a litter-prevention and volunteer program called Keeping Baldwin Beautiful, among others initiatives.
"A lot of people are concerned at sanitation," Brown said, adding that Baldwin is improving because of the board's tenacity, although the goal of eradicating litter has no "overnight solution."
To get the ball rolling, code-enforcement officers have been responding to complaints and making more frequent inspections. Since January 2002, Sanitation No. 2 has issued 424 violation notices, although very few have resulted in summonses and fines, which are usually between $25 and $250, officials said. This year, eight cases resulted in summonses, and, officials said, all violators pled guilty.
Robert Noble, who oversees code-enforcement officers, said most times businesses cooperate because they're not aware of the rules or take the warnings seriously, so many cases won't reach district court.
For instance, a business might put its garbage out for pickup on a Saturday, though it won't get hauled until Monday, or a shopping center dumpster might overflow with garbage. Often, storefront sidewalks aren't swept.
"We had one shopping center with shipping cartons piled in the back of the building," said Brown, who declined to disclose the location. "If 150 boxes are piled in the back, it becomes an attraction for mischief and fires."
In order to increase awareness and cooperation, sanitation officials met with the owners of the four major shopping centers in Baldwin last August and September, Noble said.
"We brought them to the sites and pointed out problems," he said. "The owners corrected the problems and made arrangements by speaking to their tenants about litter."
Some of the problems at shopping centers have involved illegal dumping, over-filled dumpsters, and even illegal occupancy in the backs of stores.
Officials said their warnings are being heeded.
"Most times we correct the problem before it becomes a fine," said Doug Hoffman, the code-enforcement board's secretary, explaining that businesses are usually given 24 hours to clean up and comply with a first warning. "Only those who don't listen get to the stage of summonses," Hoffman added.
In one recent case, the district repeatedly warned the landlord of 21 Edna Court, an apartment building in central Baldwin, about massive violations, including litter and debris on the premises. Noble said that the landlord was given four summonses to appear before a Nassau County Court judge and ultimately had to pay a $750 fine and was threatened with jail time if he violated code again.
"A judge could double the fine if it's a chronic violator," said Brown.
Investigators sometimes discover unrelated infractions, such as rodents in a store, and have partnered with various agencies to tackle the problems. Sanitation No. 2 is working with the Nassau County Department of Public Works, the Department of Health, Town of Hempstead Code Enforcement, county police, and others by alerting a department if a problem falls under its jurisdiction.
One example was a building on North Grand Avenue that had illegal occupants in the back. Officials said a code enforcer responded to a litter complaint and discovered gambling activity and people cooking on 50-gallon drums. Officials said that the town Building Department was notified and that the problem was corrected.
"We've eliminated the finger-pointing," said Brown. "We've been successful in bringing different jurisdictions together. The idea is to rectify the problem."
Keeping Baldwin beautiful
The department has taken other steps to eliminate garbage on the streets. Because sidewalks are individual businesses' responsibility, garbage often ends up on county- operated streets. To help combat this, sanitation has approached county officials about enacting street-cleaning legislation calling for alternate-side-of-the street parking once a week between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Grand Avenue, Merrick Road and Atlantic Avenue.
Also, to make people think twice about littering, Sanitation No. 2 teamed up last year with the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce and placed 80 green baskets around town, calling the initiative the Classic Cans Program.
And in what the department has described as its most prized project, Sanitation No. 2 is partnering with Keep America Beautiful, a national non-profit organization that provides community resources aimed at litter prevention. The project, called Keeping Baldwin Beautiful, encourages businesses, residents, schools, government organizations and beautification groups to volunteer in clean-up projects such as Adopt a Corner and The Great American Clean-Up. The projects are expected to start when the department is certified by Keep America Beautiful, which officials said may be sometime this month.
With that added resource, the department said it plans to aggressively disseminate its message about litter to the community.
"The best way to educate parents is to educate their kids," said Brown. "Sanitation has a plan and we are working hard. But it has to be a community endeavor. We want people to join."
As part of Keeping Baldwin Beautiful, Sanitation No. 2 has recently begun to spotlight exemplary establishments for their clean and neat premises, part of its Business of the Month program. The initiative is expected to encourage others to achieve the same standards. Last month, a North Fork Bank branch manager was praised for sweeping the bank's walkways, and this month, Sanitation No. 2 is honoring the Baldwin Farmer's Market at 1250 Grand Ave.
"We've seen improvements," Brown said, but cautioned that the department has a lot of work ahead of it. "We're moving in the right direction."
