INWOOD — The Parks Department is reaching out to park-goers across the city to kick start a new campaign to clean up public green spaces.
A new survey asks park lovers to help tackle "the problems of litter” in city parks, asking users about the state of their local parks and what steps they'd be willing to take personally to keep the spaces clean.
Their answers will help the department create a “new campaign aimed at litter cleanup,” officials said.
The Parks Department has been tackling new ways to keep city parks clean since 2000, when it began providing more garbage cans in city parks to keep trash at bay and launched the quarterly It's My Park Day events where residents volunteer to clean their neighborhood green spaces.
For many, the benefit of living in Northern Manhattan is the opportunity to utilize its abundant green space, which makes up more than 50 percent of the land above 155th Street.
But green space does not amount to clean space, say neighbors, who complain that uptown parks are frequently dirty and rundown.
Twitter user and Inwood resident Linnie_Inwood has become so fed up with the frequent piles of trash throughout the parks that she recently implored neighbors to write emails with photos complaining about “all the mess” to parks officials.
That, however, doesn't mean she believes all responsibility for cleaning up lies in the hands of city officials. She also tweeted a strongly worded message asking neighbors to pick up after themselves.
“#Inwood rant: Throw your god damn garbage in a pail," she wrote. "The end.”
Participants responding to the Parks Department survey who leave their email address will be entered in a raffle to win five reusable tote bags.
