On the heels of last week’s post about unwanted circulars and menus that end up on stoops and in doorways, we got an email from a Stuyvesant Heights resident who wondering about what to do about mess in front of an unoccupied building.

Everyone has heard of homeowners who get a ticket for the potato chip bag that has drifted in front of their house while they are at work, so why won’t the Department of Sanitation do anything about the eyesore that is 375 Stuyvesant Avenue? The building has been empty and “available” for many months now, and the maintenance is basically nonexistent. The two surrounding sidewalks (it’s a corner building) are strewn with plastic bags, junk food wrappers, month-old circulars, beer and liquor bottles, Chinese takeout containers, etc. People have abandoned tires there, obviously thinking it’s a mini dump. For the past week and a half there has been broken beer and vodka bottle strewn across a good portion of the sidewalk. I have called 311 repeatedly for months now, and kept track of every complaint number. When I call to follow up, they tell me that an inspector has gone out but no violation issued. They even told me an inspector went out the day the pictures below were taken. I also called one of the brokers listed so prominently on the Massey Knakal sign, and he basically told me it’s not his problem (which I find amazing, because you’d think he has a stake in making the building look presentable at the very least).

What to do?