The City Installed a Garbage Pit / Garden in Front of My House
A few months back the city tore up the sidewalk, installed street drainage, and left a hole there, telling me I’d have a ‘tree, flowers or bushes’ installed later on. I was pleased. Later on came, and after they were done with the drainage piece, some dirt was pulled out and some bare bushes were installed. I was expecting a little bit more dirt to be piled on there, but that never happened. Today I have an ugly pit installed, but the worst part is that all the garbage, plastic bags, wrappers and you-name-it flies into this pit. The best are the bushes, which are great at picking up the floating plastic bags. Is anyone else annoyed by having to personally clean up street garbage a few times a week (something which I don’t think I have the appetite for doing)? I am wondering if there’s something can be installed – a mesh maybe – to keep garbage in the street where a cleaning truck drives by every so often. Here’s a picture of my beautiful landscaping out front.
soundhoner
in Sidewalks 9 years and 2 months ago
30
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30 replies
bklyngirl | 9 years and 2 months ago
I am laughing because as atrocious as it looks with all the garbage the tree pit and metal surround is lovely. You have a small problem in the big city suck it up and adopt it like a child. You cannot plant a tree there because you have some type of exhaust/drainage or electrical stub out going on. Also since it is hella cold you cannot tell what type of bushes those are. My advice is to; -Totally clean out the pit. Leave the black rocks if you so choose -Cut back/down the bushes a small bit so that when they start to bloom they will fill in and you can see what type they are OR rip them out You can get either some lengths of Trex deck planks and cut them to length and depth. Screw a few holes in the decking every few feet and tie the deck to the inside of the metal to create a barrier for the garbage not to blow in -Put in a few bags of good soil (but try to keep the tops of those pipe clear and accessible) -line the perimeter with Hostas and some annuals you can swap out for pops of color -mulch it all in with several bags of your favorite mulch -Put up a sign asking people not to toss litter or to let their animals use the space. You won’t escape cleaning it out but I think if your neighbors see you adding to the value of your home and community you might get everyone on the block who has a tree pit (hopefully with a tree in them) to pay it forward. Good luck.
cmu | 9 years and 2 months ago
I can’t see why you can’t much it with cedar or something. Won’t affect the bio-swale-ity.
NeoGrec | 9 years and 2 months ago
PHFamily: I sincerely urge you to reach out to the local Prospect Heights civic organizations I mentioned above.
higherwhitley | 9 years and 2 months ago
Agree with tm07\. Put in some of the most easily available approved plants in the spring. The city probably won’t even notice, and if they do remove them, you won’t have lost very much. Clearly it’s harder to deal with than a conventional tree pit, but many of the same issues apply. I remove garbage from our tree pit regularly & try not to let it build up. A drag, but really only takes a minute.
tm07 | 9 years and 2 months ago
Plant only the plants listed in the approved palette page. If someone from the city shows up, suggest that they have been sent to the wrong bioswale. Show them the approved list. I regularly prune rose bushes. I hope that I am not breaking the law.
2345bcde | 9 years and 2 months ago
I was so excited when the work began, but it has turned into a magnet for garbage. I guess I am not the only person to notice.
soundhoner | 9 years and 2 months ago
I shouldn’t be so cynical. In the long run this improves water quality by limiting the combined sewage overflows. I just wish a regime were in place to punish litterers. Mandatory community service would work well. If the city were in the habit of cleaning the bioswales regularly, then guess what would happen, people would use them as garbage bins.
soundhoner | 9 years and 2 months ago
They are special plants designed to grow amongst candy wrappers, plastic shopping bags and dog feces. Don’t mess with nature.
soundhoner | 9 years and 2 months ago
Thanks, @chinatownred, for sending us that link! It’s entertaining. I love the beautiful pictures of the greenery. I also love this part:
> What to avoid: Don’t add your own plants or flowers to the ROW Bioswale. All of the plants are specially chosen to survive life on a busy NYC street. Planting other vegetation can prevent the special plants from working in the ROW Bioswale, and foreign plants may suffer in the extremely wet environment of the ROW Bioswale. Don’t prune the plants or the trees. Be aware that only permitted arborists or contracted landscapers are authorized to prune trees in NYC. You can contact Trees New York to earn a Citizen Pruning Permit or find a Citizen Pruner. In addition, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation prunes street trees on a regular cycle.
And you need a permit 😉
PHfamily | 9 years and 2 months ago
I think what many of you are missing here is that the city will allow us the privilege of picking up trash, weeding and monitoring soil erosion in the bioswales, but we are prohibited from adding plants, trimming plants or adding anything to the “special” soil– great idea bout the Christmas tree but technically this isn’t allowed because it will just get washed out into the street. As far as I can tell so far they are a messy eyesore…..time will tell.
slopefarm | 9 years and 2 months ago
“as there are also dogs that piss and crap on and around it and on the cigarette packs, juice containers and candy bar wrappings entwined in the bushes.” True for every tree pit as well. And yes, it’s a real PITA to deal with it, but it sure beats commuting from the suburbs. Sometimes I throw NYC Parks Christmas tree mulch in the tree pit. I think dogs don’t like walking on it so much and it reduces the mess I have to deal with.
kassie319 | 9 years and 2 months ago
City Bioswale handbook here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/green_infrastructure/bioswalecare_handbook.pdf There’s a helpful list at the end of the document should you choose to bang in some extra plant material.
Arkady | 9 years and 2 months ago
I tie a supply of NY Times bags in my tree pit for dog owners to use – it’s made a big difference in dog leavings over the last 2 years. Might be worth trying.
soundhoner | 9 years and 2 months ago
Thanks for the responses, even the moralisms I was expecting to receive (I love teasing that out). I live in a renter’s neighborhood, so there’s none of that Green Acres-like ‘neighbors’ idea that seems to be thrown about. The only time these neighbors clean something is when they haul their stuff into U-haul trucks once very summer to be replaced by the next group of 20-somethings. At the end of my block there’s a NYCHA parking lot, which of course never, ever gets cleaned, complete with a shopping cart and random furniture parts / garbage around. I’ll take a look at Cate and slopefarm’s suggestions in terms of what to plant there. As it stands now, the bioswale is unsanitary, as there are also dogs that piss and crap on and around it and on the cigarette packs, juice containers and candy bar wrappings entwined in the bushes. Maybe I’ll rake some of the items out of there and into a trashbag so I don’t have to touch them. Blech.
Bessie | 9 years and 2 months ago
Eric Adams’ office loves the bioswale! Too bad about the trash. Does it have to have a tree guard if no tree is getting planted there? We had an awful problem with trash on our corner, don’t know why since there are 4 very visible trash cans. It took a while but the neighbors all started doing a lot more gardening and making a practice of picking up litter regularly. It seems like a cleaner space makes people litter less.
NeoGrec | 9 years and 2 months ago
Maybe you could join forces with some of your neighbors to “adopt” the bioswale and keep it tidy and appropriately planted together? That way, at least you’d be sharing the burden — and the pleasure. PHFamily: Did the city fix the situation for you? Your cellar shouldn’t be left at permanent risk of flooding. Have you considered reaching out to Prospect Heights Street Tree Taskforce or PHNDC? Either organization might be able to provide contacts at DOT, City Planning, Parks of whichever city agency is over-seeing the bioswales project. You could also call the office of Laurie Cumbo, the Prospect Heights city council member.
Arkady | 9 years and 2 months ago
A lot of the debris in my tree pit is blown in there from the street as cars pass by. In weeks when the sweeper has done its job, the mess is much less.
catboot | 9 years and 2 months ago
Consider yourself lucky (for the plantings, not the flooding – that sucks!). One of the biosweles on our block is currently beautified with an upside down police barricade (anyone know if it blooms in spring or summer?) We have a 20 ft wide tree pit in front of our house. and picking garbage out of it is a fact of city life. Sure I could ignore it, but it looks gross and I don’t want to look at it. If I see someone littering, I may yell at them to pick it up – yes, I’m that person. But usually I just clean it up and hope that karma will catch up with the litter throwers.
slopefarm | 9 years and 2 months ago
Yes, maintaining what’s in front of your house on the sidewalk is a part of City live, whether it is a tree pit, bioswale or just sweeping the sidewalk. You might consider planing one or two variegated boxwoods (green-white or green-yellow). They are pretty much evergreen and fill the space nicely over time. They grow quite thick and full, so not a lot of space for litter to collect.