SANIT UNION'S WORTHY IDEA

Sanit Union's Worthy Idea

The Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association has made a suggestion that deserves serious scrutiny once the winter ends: put money the city didn't have to spend on snow removal toward fixing and renovating sanitation garages.

A Sanitation Department spokesman was noncommittal about the proposal last week, but it's exactly the kind of idea that Mayor Bloomberg would normally welcome. It involves using what might amount to a one-time windfall - significant savings because of a milder winter that produces little snow - for a one-shot expense. The repair and renovation work presumably would keep the fixed-up facilities in good stead for a decade or more.

The run-down conditions of their workplaces are cited by employee groups from cops and firefighters to Teachers and transit workers. Sprucing them up, whether it's to address safety hazards or simply make them look more appealing, does not put money in workers' pockets, but it can affect the way they feel about their jobs and their employers.

When the city has a budget surplus, this is the kind of intangible improvement that should be addressed; when it can be done from a surplus in the budget of the same agency where the work is needed, so much the better.