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Visitors to Prospect Park this past Sunday may have noticed how their fellow park-goers chose to celebrate American independence—by trashing a few acres of park grounds. Raphael Brion was one of those visitors, and he snapped a few photos of the post-Fourth carnage to share with us on Flickr.
But press director Eugene Patron with Prospect Park Alliance says this kind of trash torrent isn't unusual: "Any holiday weekend, it's always a challenge to clean up, whether that's Memorial Day, Labor Day, or July 4th." Patron explains that trash crews can't move collection trucks safely through the park at night, "especially because people so many people stay in the Park later at night in summer. Its not safe to try and move a truck through a crowded Park, especially as it gets dark...We can't clean it all by 7 in the morning...when the dog-walkers are out taking photos of this. You have to give us a few hours to get it all." He adds that some park-goers haven't helped matters by moving trash cans, turning them into barbecue grills, and then not returning them.
Have you been to Prospect Park since Sunday? If so, let us know how the park looks. Is the garbage gone or does it still look like a small circus rolled through?
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Breaking news! New Yorkers bad at throwing trash out!
wait...
Are we really ready to go for a jog in a post-trash park?
This is a story? People neatly bagged their trash and put it in and around the proper receptacles. Should they have backpacked their garbage onto the train?
Shocking!
I'm sure the rats (that outnumber the squirrels) appreciate it.
Part of the problem in city parks, and in NYC in general, is that on big days (parades, holidays, etc) there simply aren't enough trashcans. The few that are there get overfilled, and then things go downhill.
The big issue is that no one cleans up or otherwise monitors the parks on the weekends. Oddly enough (not), that is when people use the parks. It seems that a trash collection on Sunday morning, particularly on a long weekend, would be beneficial.
Also, BS about collection trucks not being able to get in. I see Parks trucks driving through Prospect Park all the time during the day.
Yes, this is a story. This should be a story. This is a huge problem. It's not just Prospect Park. It's everywhere. McCarren was a disaster both yesterday and this morning. The playground where I take my son was so beat up, I can't even begin to explain it. I have no idea how and why people can't at least clean up after themselves. If you have a party and you bring a bunch of Dorito bags and cupcakes, soda and whatnot, bring a bag and at the very least bag it all up and put it somewhere that the parks employees can get to it. It's disgusting.
We took several pictures of the aftermath. I don't know why. It's like I needed proof that it really does get to be that horrible.
I can't understand how people don't have a lick of pride in their surroundings.
I wish more people would get worked up and report about this. It's horrible. Thanks for writing about this, Gothamist, and it's not just Prospect.
I'm shocked!
Prospect Park isn't the only park in town. If you want to play news, Gothamist, check out the other big parks in town. Like Flushing Meadows, which is always a mess post-giant holidays, and which gets far less attention in clean-up than Prospect Park.
Read the Gothamist media kit - 37% of readers are from Brooklyn, with 35% from Manhattan. There's a reason why there's an emphasis on Brooklyn rather than Flushing (bahaha!)
I wish Gothamist would talk much more about Queens.
On the Fourth I saw an overturned trashbin cum grill. It was amazing.
All white people know that black people made the mess, all black people know white hipsters and Italians made the mess, and all Chinese know they did it themselves.
I suspect leprechauns.
Or the little people.
Only the fat ones.
I rode through the park twice in the last two days, both times entering at Park Circle and following the road up to Grand Army Plaza. On Sunday I noticed a lot of loose trash along the lake at the south end of the park, but I also saw a crew of park employees working feverishly to clean things up nearby. On my ride through today the park was back to normal.
I agree with jt10000 that we need more (or bigger?) trash cans in the park, but I also agree with mihow that people need to be more respectful of the park, and we shouldn't be having to pay for crews of people to clean up after us.
Maybe rather than increasing the number of trash cans in the park, we should be encouraging a pack-in, pack-out mentality like they do at state parks and national parks. We certainly can't remove the cans completely, but signs and pamphlets urging people to take their trash with them (and for that matter, to generate less waste when they use the park) couldn't hurt.
Send immigration to the parks-they will be spotless
This is no different than any other Monday in Prospect Park.
Trash seems kinda organized, ready for pick-up. How about a few drop points for trash at major exits, and friendly signs at cans for encouragement & directions. Wouldn't cost a penny, and would foster cooperation. Litterers will be litterers, but nice bulk producers would likely comply happily.
So, Rock --
Gothamist doesn't want to EXPAND it's audience?