The Scourge of Grease Recycling Trucks (and the Deteriorating Quality of Life Around Petrosino Park)

Below are remarks I’m planning to make at the next meeting of Community Board 2 on September 24:

I’m here to talk to you about the noise pollution caused by grease recycling trucks, which are primarily operated by a company called NYC Clean Air Group. These trucks typically start operating at 7am, run for 20 to 30 minutes at a time and can be heard from several blocks away. I’ve emailed the company several times and asked if they could schedule their trucks for after 9am, and they initially agreed to do so, but continued to schedule them at 7am. The result has been that I’ve been woken up at 7am at least once a week for the past several years and this has affected my physical and mental health. (Not surprisingly, noise is recognized as a prohibited form of abuse by the Geneva Conventions.)

I’ve even taken to moving to a couch in the back of my apartment when this noise starts, but I can still hear it even in the back of my apartment with my windows closed and a pillow over my head.

The company maintains that they are legally allowed to start operating at 7am (I’m picturing someone from their company holding a stop watch), but just because you’re legally allowed to do something doesn’t mean you should. It’s also legal to carry a concealed weapon in some parts of this country.

I would compare this problem to the recent outcry about data centers. AI companies say they serve an important need, but they also create a lot of noise and use a lot of water and energy. (Granted, grease recycling trucks don’t have the capacity to wipe out civilization.)

I think we’ve all witnessed a deteriorating qualify of life around Petrosino Park, whether it’s skateboarders commandeering Lafayette Street, people showing up with amplified sound equipment, buildings being turned into 3D advertisements, the lines we see outside every retail establishment, and companies taking over not just the sidewalk but sometimes the street itself in order to promote their products.

I would like to add that my city council member, Christopher Marte, hasn’t responded to a single email I’ve sent him throughout his two terms in office, even though I spoke to him in person outside my polling location before his first term about quality of life issues in Nolita (which, at that time, just concerned the skateboarders on Lafayette Street and the garbage and graffiti around Petrosino Park).

My local precinct, the Fifth Precinct (which is in Chinatown), has also been somewhat unresponsive. There really should be another police precinct for Nolita and Soho. Maybe they could return the Police Building to its original function!

Thank you for listening.