Readers Write: Don’t Blame The Sanitation Worker, Blame the System

Dear Boro Park Neighbors:

As a resident of Boro Park, I feel compelled to speak up about something that has been bothering me over the past few weeks: the way our sanitation workers are being treated.

Let’s be clear - the failure we’re seeing on our streets is not the fault of the sanitation workers themselves.

These men are working grueling 12-hour shifts, day after day, nonstop. They are out there in all kinds of weather, lifting, hauling, and doing physically exhausting work that most people would not last a single week doing. And yet, instead of appreciation, they’re met with constant complaints and blame from the public.

That isn’t fair.

The problem is leadership. The problem is planning, staffing, and policy decisions made far above the heads of the workers actually showing up and doing the job. When routes are understaffed, schedules are unrealistic, and resources are stretched thin, no amount of hard work on the ground can make up for it.

If there are failures, then accountability belongs where the decisions are made and not with the workers carrying the load.

To the sanitation workers of our neighborhood: Thank you. We see you. We appreciate you. We know this isn’t on you.

It’s time leadership does better - and it’s time we stop blaming the people breaking their backs to keep our streets clean and safe.

- S. Miller