Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Mayor Adams' sanitation cuts soil major progress in cleaning up NYC streets
By
Sophia Chang
Published Dec 21, 2023
Modified Dec 29, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
NYC Mayor's Office
By
Sophia Chang
Published Dec 21, 2023
Modified Dec 29, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Sweeping changes to the city’s sanitation laws are cleaning up New York City’s streets, but Mayor Eric Adams’ budget cuts could undo elements of one of his most substantive policy initiatives.
Adams’ sanitation programs have resulted in rat complaints declining, fewer mountains of smelly trash bags on sidewalks, and a dramatic surge in tickets for flouting sanitation rules. The mayor has vowed to rid New York of its “Trash City” nickname with a pilot program to examine how residential garbage could be put in shared containers, and has declared a “war on rats.”
But as the Department of Sanitation implements a 3% cut to its $1.9 billion budget, some experts worry that this could undermine Adams’ progress.
“I think it would be a real shame for the city if some of these efforts that I think are very positive – and has happened under Mayor Adams – to be rolled back at this point during the fiscal challenges,” said Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission.
While the cuts' effects continue to emerge, sanitation officials have already said they’ll gut funding to the city’s community compost programs. The department will also delay the next rollout of the department’s curbside compost collection across the five boroughs, which Adams heralded as a step toward making New York a cleaner, greener city.
During a City Council hearing earlier this month, sanitation spokesperson Joshua Goodman testified that due to budget cuts, workers will remove some of the city’s 23,000 litter baskets from sidewalks in an effort to reduce costs of emptying them.
The decision to reduce the number of baskets on the streets comes only months after the sanitation department began replacing the old, green metal mesh cans with sturdier, rat-resistant models.
The department did not have information on exactly how many cans will be taken off the streets, but officials said sanitation truck routes for litter basket collection would be reduced by 40%.
Reductions in litter service present “the greatest risk for negative impacts for New Yorkers and are going to be seen and felt on a day-to-day basis,” Champeny said.
Despite the cuts, Goodman described the sanitation department’s progress this year as monumental.
“Taken together, this tidal wave of policies and initiatives amount to a trash revolution,” Goodman said in a statement.
“For decades, smelly piles of trash plagued our sidewalks. Even though large cities around the world have solved this problem, New Yorkers have been led to believe that we had to live with trash all around us,” Goodman said. “We have shown that these are actually solvable problems — if you have the will to go through with making changes.”
Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch earlier this month said her department’s headcount is as high as it’s been in decades, with about 7,000 uniformed workers on the payroll.
The department has also ramped up enforcement of its rules, giving out more than 393,000 tickets in the past fiscal year, according to city data – a 65% increase from the previous year.
The ticketing blitz helps drive the policies home, said John Ketcham, a fellow and director of cities at the Manhattan Institute.
“Getting New Yorkers to modify their behavior is going to be an important part,” Ketcham said.
Tisch has also added street vending enforcement and the cleaning of highways and public lots to the department’s portfolio. The department announced a push to remove abandoned cars from streets as well.
Even before the budget cuts, critics already questioned whether the sanitation department would be able to maintain its core mission along with its expanded duties.
“DSNY already struggles to enforce its essential imperative of street cleanliness with the positions it has,” Councilmembers Sandy Nurse and Shahana Hanif wrote in a joint statement last March when the sanitation department took over street vending enforcement.
Still, experts said they have hope that the sanitation department’s progress under Adams would continue, despite the funding cuts and the department’s expanded duties.
Champeny said Tisch’s enforcement surge of new rules — like ones requiring food-related businesses to put their trash in containers — has proven effective in cleaning up streets and sidewalks.
Adams’ push to get all the city’s trash off sidewalks and into bins should remain a top priority, Ketcham said – even if it faces pushback from some locals.
“I do think that containerization will prove to be the Adams administration's hallmark achievement in terms of sanitation-related policy,” Ketcham said.
Editor's note: This story initially displayed the incorrect published date.
Tagged
new york city
Politics
sanitation
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Hochul names NY AG James as special prosecutor on alleged rape case at Cornell University
The governor said she does not have faith that the police and the Tompkins County DA effectively investigated the case.
By
Jon Campbell
Published Oct 1, 2026 at 9:04 p.m. ET
Founder of NYC LGBTQ therapy practice charged with rape after alleged sexual assaults
Joseph LoGiudice is the second therapist at Liberation Psychotherapy to be accused of sexually abusing a patient.
By
Giulia Heyward
News
Founder of NYC LGBTQ therapy practice charged with rape after alleged sexual assaults
Joseph LoGiudice is the second therapist at Liberation Psychotherapy to be accused of sexually abusing a patient.
By
Giulia Heyward
US judge in NY indefinitely blocks ICE from making arrests at immigration courthouses
By
Arya Sundaram
Lawyer challenging NYC rent freeze releases Mamdani officials’ emails and text messages
By
David Brand
Push to strengthen NY sexual assault laws gathers steam after Cornell rape allegations
By
Walter Wuthmann
and
Jon Campbell
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .