The Bronx; the northernmost borough of New York City is the birthplace of hip-hop and home to the New York Yankees. Families flock to the world famous Bronx Zoo and gravitate towards the New York Botanical Garden, while many locals head straight to Arthur Avenue, Grand Concourse, and the South Bronx. Bronx Culture has become a perfect representation of our people’s values, beliefs, and personal interests. It has allowed us residence to maintain a unique identity for years now. Growing up in The Bronx, as an Afro-Latina Woman in a single parent low-income household, has molded my character indefinitely. 

    Although The Bronx holds much of our New York heritage it is also the most neglected and poorest borough in the city, also housing the poorest Congressional district in the nation. It has seen the slowest economic growth since 2002 and household incomes have dropped in the last three years, according to American Community Survey data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Back in 2010 the NY Daily News reported that The South Bronx alone had 256,544, or 38%, of its residents living below the poverty line according to the ACS. It's as if in New York City, the poorer the neighborhood, the less is done to maintain it by both the city and its residents. The Bronx is the most underfunded borough between the 5, giving us the least amount of funds to be allocated to our community. Which means less money to be distributed to our schools, libraries, playgrounds, crime, healthcare, and yes, sanitation. The Bronx being the most underserved borough has led to its own negligence. There are many factors that have influenced this disconnect, but I truly believe the social stratifications that our government has strictly placed us in play a huge role. Which refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power. Keeping our wealthy communities clean and our less fortunate ones to fend for themselves. 

    It comes as no surprise the major lack of trash cans on our streets, which has resulted in an increase of litter and the constant over flowing of the cans that are available for use in The Bronx. In the streets of Manhattan you come across trash bins on every street and avenue corner unlike the 6-7 blocks you’ll walk without seeing not one trash can distributed in The Bronx. The lack of cleanliness in The Bronx has resulted in a recent influx of rats and roaches throughout the borough. Back in 2018 NY 1 reported that residents of a city housing complex in the Bronx said they were horrified by a recent invasion of rats. They said the rodents have been an ongoing problem for months. NY1 was also told that a baby was bitten by a rat and had to go on antibiotics. For months residents took to instagram to post videos displaying several rat pests crawling around a kitchen inside one of the affected buildings. In 2019 Pix 11 took it upon themselves to further investigate the roach infestation in yet another Bronx building. Reporting that a mother was even afraid to sleep, staying up countless hours just to ensure that there were no “roaches crawling all over” her baby.

    In addition to the rodent outbreak in recent years neighborhoods within The Bronx have been suffering from pollution inequality leading to its newfound nickname “Asthma Alley”. They need asthma hospitalizations at five times the national average and at rates 21 times higher than other NYC neighborhoods. Studies found that black Americans are exposed to about 56% more pollution than is caused by their consumption, and Hispanics 63% more. Meanwhile, non-Hispanic whites breathe about 17% less air pollution than they cause, earning a “pollution advantage”. Yes, the rise of air pollution can be caused by car and truck exhaust, factories, dust, and pollen but The Bronx has been reported to have a high case of mold spores. Mold spores are fungi, similar to yeasts and mushrooms, and they can grow in any environment with a constant source of moisture, i.e the filth that sits on our sidewalks and streets for weeks on end. These fumes are responsible for the musty mold odor slowly consuming The Bronx. You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air is elitist? Tell that to the kids in the South Bronx suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country. This continuous neglect has added/validated to other boroughs the already negative Bronx stereotype. In comparison to other boroughs residents from The Bronx are said to be “dirty” or “ghetto”. Living with rats/roaches/filth is unacceptable. No human being in the city of New York should ever live like this. We cannot continue to hold petty press conferences in hopes that the Housing Authority/Department of Sanitation will do its job. No community should live like this. Our streets are becoming inhuman, as if those who reside in The Bronx are animals. We are human beings, we work, we pay bills, and we pay our tax dollars. 

    After residing in The Bronx for 23 years I've decided to take the initiative and begin this petition to advocate for more public garbage cans to be placed around our neighborhoods, for the NYC Department of Sanitation to regularly dispose of the garbage already overcrowding the very few trash cans we do have, for NYC Department of Sanitation to provide The Bronx with a new mandatory scheduled street cleaning to all named streets and its surrounding areas that they will follow, and lastly for Housing Authorities to upkeep a clean environment for their tenants despite their residents financial status. Over the past year, residents in our neighborhoods have submitted multiple online requests for garbage cans via the Department of Sanitation’s website. Regardless of the numerous requests made by residents and countless 311 calls the Department of Sanitation has simply ignored these requests and nothing has been done to rectify the situation. All individuals signing the intended petition are petitioning the above statement.