Is there nothing sacred?
Sabbath-observing Orthodox Jews have criticized the city's sanitation department for tightening nighttime curbside trash collection, saying they are being fined for observing their religion.
In deeply Orthodox neighborhoods like Crown Heights, residents must bring their trash curbside on Fridays for collection on Saturday, as they prepare to observe the Sabbath.
“The city's new trash collection regulations directly infringe on our religious freedom and overturn nearly 100 years of precedent,” Crown Heights resident Kan Tziwa said.
He noted that about half the year, the Sabbath begins before 6 p.m., but the city's new rules don't allow residents to take their trash to the side of the road until later than the time when Jews are supposed to refrain from activities that are considered work.
“I recently tried to explain this to a DSNY officer who was writing tickets on our block just before Shabbat,” Tziba said, “but unfortunately, he simply said he was sympathetic to our problem but that he couldn’t make exceptions because he was just following instructions.
“In New York in 2024, it feels like the concerns of the Jewish community are no longer being taken into consideration.”
The city currently requires property owners to put out their trash the evening before collection, after 6pm if the bin has a secure lid, and between 8pm and midnight if it's in a bag.
Officials said the hours were extended from 4 p.m. to reduce the amount of time that mice and rodents have easy access to food scraps. Local residents provided The Washington Post with copies of citations they received that carry fines ranging from $50 to $300 for putting out their trash too early.
“I've lived in Crown Heights for many years, and DOS [Department of Sanitation] “They were very considerate of our needs as religious Jews,” said the Rev. Motti Lipskier, a Crown Heights resident and educator who recently received a subpoena.
“I'm grateful to everyone working to resolve this issue and I trust the State Department will be understanding,” Lipskier said.
State Sen. Simcha Felder, R-Brooklyn, called on health officials to stop issuing citations before or during the Sabbath.
“Sabbath-observing residents whose trash is collected on Saturday must put their trash out before the Sabbath, which is earlier than Dallas City of New York's trash collection times of 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.,” Felder wrote in a Sept. 18 letter to the sanitation department's enforcement director.
“By giving Sabbath-observing residents this small window of collection time on Saturday, we can prevent piles of backlogged trash from building up throughout our neighborhoods,” Felder said.
“DSNY should refrain from issuing violations for religious customs for putting out trash bins early on Friday evenings, as this is the only time residents can put their trash out before Saturday trash collection,” the senator added.
Sanitation officials defended the slower trash collection schedule and the use of citations to enforce it.
“The previous 4 p.m. trash collection time was one of the earliest in the country, meaning black trash bags would sit curbside for more than half the day,” said Joshua Goodman, DSNY's deputy director of public affairs and customer experience.
“Changing this old status quo has been successful, resulting in the biggest year-on-year decrease in rat sightings since 2010, but continued progress depends on compliance with the rules.”
Goodman said the department previously proposed changing Crown Heights' collection day from Saturday to another day of the week to avoid the Sabbath in order to resolve the conflict, but the proposal was rejected.
“That proposal was turned down by local leaders but is still under consideration,” Goodman said.
Efforts to reduce the rat population have become a top priority for Mayor Eric Adams, who was fined for pest infestations on his own property in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
