Building Supers Meet With Deputy DSNY Commissioner Joshua Goodman

By Dominick Romeo

For a year and a half, my group of building superintendents (NYCBuildingSupers.com) requested meetings with Jessica Tisch, former sanitation commissioner, and Joshua Goodman, the Deputy Commissioner/ Public Affairs Officer for the Department of Sanitation. Finally, Joshua met me for coffee three weeks ago.  It has been a long road to get here. 

 In April of 2022, the Department of Sanitation of New York [DSNY] created a new ordinance that forced building superintendents, like me, to toss out our building’s trash after 8 p.m. This is allegedly to combat our city’s rat problem – or at least that’s what the city’s massive PR campaign, “Let’s Send These Rats Packing,” led us to believe.   

Building “supers” and porters had been bringing the trash to the curb at 4 p.m. because our working hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., just like everyone else’s.  We are contracted to be in our buildings during those hours to tackle our daily tasks, which include meeting with vendors, like plumbers, electricians, contractors, and elevator repair personnel who also work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Under the new rule, we are forced to go back to work after 8 p.m. to take out the trash.

Joshua arrived with a two-inch manila folder in hand.  He seemed to be on a mission to tell us the things he felt we didn’t know. I interrupted him immediately by saying, “Josh, I’m fully aware of DSNY’s future plans.  I’ve been working on this for two years. You need to hear what WE have to say for a change.”  Joshua asked if he could finish and we both agreed. 

“Is this, OK?”  Joshua asked, showing us a picture of black trash bags piled on the sidewalk. Ah, yes, trash shaming. A familiar tactic that’s now used to shame the public into complying. We see this often on DSNY’s social media accounts – they think this is so funny. City agencies are forcing supers and porters to miss dinner with their families and friends so we can take out the trash. It’s a real knee-slapper.

 Of course, we don’t want to see piles of trash either, but where are we supposed to store all these extra trash containers in our small NYC basements?  We do not have alleyways, or garages, and we only have three regular garbage pickups per week and one pickup for recycling, glass, metal, paper, and now composting.

“When my friends come into town, they are appalled that we are leaving bags of garbage on our sidewalks for pick up the next day,” Josh said. “Paris has been using containerization for years now.” This is a favorite line used by DSNY, claiming that places like Paris and Amsterdam use containers for their trash days too. 

 What they have been telling us isn’t exactly true.  Paris indeed has been using containers for over 20 years, but DSNY fails to mention that Paris has daily regular trash collections and three collections a week for recycling. Similarly, Venezuela has more pickup days than NYC! 

 After explaining this to Josh, I highlighted Amsterdam’s trash collections program. Each resident is assigned a trash center location to dispose of their trash in a marked, anchored down trash bin, and their trash is stored underground. The sanitation department picks up the entire bin from underground, using a crane attached to their trucks. 

Why can’t NYC have a program like that? With lightning speed, Josh pulls out a map with a vague depiction of our city’s underground infrastructure. He claims that we don’t have space for underground containerization and that most agencies never mapped out their pipeline locations.

 Amsterdam, which is 349 years older than our city, had the same problems  when burying their trash in underground containers. That’s why the containers are scattered  in different locations.

 I said, “Why don’t you give us more trash pickup days like Paris and Venezuela?  This is killing us, Josh!” He replied, “This doesn’t sound like you have a problem with DSNY, this sounds like a problem with your management companies, not hiring enough staff.”

 I tried to explain, “No, Josh, our problem is DSNY, telling supers that we need to go back to work past 8 p.m., and not realizing that most buildings in NYC can’t afford an extra person at roughly $36,000 a year, because most buildings are living on the margins of financial ruin because of countless regulations, taxes and penalties, so this mandate falls onto us.”

But he didn’t seem to get it and didn’t seem to care. His mind was set on the success of his vision of NYC’s trash future, even if this went against logic or the culture of our city and its history.  Like DSNY’s new three-piece, two-hinge designer trash cans that are starting to appear at each corner. 

 In April 2024 Council Member Erik Bottcher and former Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch revealed their new trash bins.  They were billed as rat-proof because the holes within the main container are smaller. Why they didn’t just make the wire mesh holes for the original green metal cans smaller, is beyond me. Anyway, Josh confirmed that new design for those corner trash cans had been left on a shelf for five years.

Well, it should have remained on a shelf. I doubt these containers will be around in five years. They are all falling apart, I told Josh. He rapidly pulled out his smartphone and replied, “I just added you to my calendar and I will make sure to call you in five years to see if you were right.”

I will be looking forward to Joshua Goodman’s call on January 9, 2030.