Many New Yorkers on the Upper East Side of Manhattan have been dealing with a pretty harsh winter, and some serious problems around snow removal, but some of them have also seen another disturbing trend: loose garbage in bags, piled up on sidewalks, around curbs, and overflowing into the edges of busy urban roads.
Near the end of January, this troublesome pattern was getting widely reported in different news venues, including a January 28 New York Post article disputing the city administration’s claims that trash removal crews were working around the clock to get rid of garbage.
Although the Post’s coverage may be sensationalized a bit, claiming that Park Slope was pristine while many other areas were inundated with trash, the issue seems neatly summed up by a snapshot of several dozen bags piled up in front of a business. This gives readers a real glimpse into what’s happening at the street level when you have this sort of gradual backlog of trash.
Trash Collection Problems and Public Risk
Piled up garbage can have some unanticipated negative consequences for local residents in ways that may not be evident, but are usually transparent to experts in injury like New York City slip and fall lawyers. Over time, garbage can flow out of bags and cause hazards for pedestrians. Individuals can slip and fall on loose garbage, or have to make dangerous detours around garbage piles. Garbage can flow out into the street and become a hazard for drivers as well.
We often like to think of trash removal as something neat and tidy – residents put bags or cans out, and crews predictably harvest it every week. When the system breaks down, it can have serious effects on public health and safety. Some of these dangers are off the public radar until the situation gets to be extreme, for instance, when garbage is piled up across an entire sidewalk up to shoulder height. New York City slip and fall lawyers or others used to assessing public risk would immediately recognize this as a red flag, where others might just see it as a nuisance.
That’s one reason why it’s important to be sure that administrators are doing all they can to promote effective and regular garbage collection – not just because it’s a stinking eyesore and an inconvenience, but because someone could get hurt.
Getting Legal Assistance for Personal Injury
If you’re facing recovery from an accident injury that happened in the city, or elsewhere in the state of New York, some factors of negligence and inadequate public safety could have led to your conditions. Administrators, business owners or other parties could have responsibility for contributing to the cost of your care, or other financial liabilities related to injury. Talk to the New York City slip and fall lawyers at Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff LLP for more about building a case and helping to protect your family from financial losses related to an unfortunate slip and fall, traffic accident or other personal injury situation.