Seeks Facility Repairs
Sanit Union Trashes Dilapidated Garages

By REUVEN BLAU

After an unusually warm and snowless start to the winter, the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association last week urged the Bloomberg administration to use the millions of dollars it sets aside to pay for snow removal to repair its old and dilapidated garages.

HARRY NESPOLI: Plow snow money into repairs.

USA President Harry Nespoli said that the Department of Sanitation desperately needs to revamp many of its 59 facilities throughout the city. "Why can't they take some of that money and funnel it into the garages where the men come to work every day?" he asked during a phone interview. "Furnaces go up and then go down, the roofs are leaking, and water comes into locker rooms - it has to be addressed."

Sanit: What Problem?

A DSNY spokesman, Matthew Lipani, responded in an e-mail that the agency "closely monitors the condition of all of its garages and other facilities so that employees have a safe work environment."

Mayor Bloomberg has said that it costs the city $1 million to plow each inch of snow. Last winter, the DSNY cleared 40 inches of snow.

"It's not over yet, but there is a savings there," Mr. Nespoli asserted, referring to this winter. "Compare last year at this time. Right now, we are ahead."

The union president said that he has repeatedly asked DSNY officials to make the necessary improvements to the garages. "It's taking too long for the department to get this work done," he contended. "Some furnaces won't be replaced until 2008."

The DSNY spokesman maintained the issues were being addressed. "When repairs are needed, they are made as quickly as possible," Mr. Lipani said. "And when new buildings are needed, we build them."

Blackout in Brooklyn

But according to Mr. Nespoli, the department hasn't fixed the lights in the new Brooklyn 14 garage in East Flatbush for over six months. "You can't see [anything] in the morning," Mr. Nespoli said. "The department has been putting it off. They are saying they have a contractor, but the contractor can't find the fixtures."

He added, "It's kind of difficult to see what's going on in between trucks. Any time lighting is poor, it's a dangerous situation."

The department, Mr. Nespoli continued, has also been promising to replace the Brooklyn 3 garage in Williamsburg for over 20 years. "It's a small dirty building," he said. "They've repainted it a hundred times over. It doesn't solve the problem. The floor collapsed once. It's really an outdated building and there is nothing they can do."

Approximately 110 Sanitation Workers are assigned to that facility, he said. The USA represents the city's 6,700 Sanitation Workers.

Mr. Nespoli also cited the new DSNY garage on Manhattan's West Side at 59th St., which has taken the city over five years to complete. "If this was a private company, this building would have been done already," he said. "There is salt and trucks waiting for this garage; there has got to be a better way to do it."

'Passing the Buck'

As for the union's complaints, the DSNY noted it has meetings with workers when facility issues arise.

Mr. Nespoli, however, said he has repeatedly given the department lists of problems, to no avail. "They'd like to have a nice area [where] they can sit down and eat their lunches and wash their hands," he said, referring to his members. "By contract it's mandated that we have that."

The DSNY hasn't financed major repairs of its facilities since the mid-1980s, Mr. Nespoli said. "I don't see what the delay is with all the repairs," he added. "It seems like everybody is turning around and passing the buck. I'm just going to keep on telling them. They are going to get tired of me, sooner or later."