The City Council wants to spend $2.7 million to get dungeon-like facilities for female sanitation workers out of the Dark Ages.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said the funds — paired with another $2.5 million in the city’s proposed budget — could finally bring bathrooms, showers and lockers for women at old city garages into the modern era.
She said the money, included in the Council’s response to Mayor de Blasio’s proposed budget, will “afford our female sanitation workers the dignity and respect they deserve.”
“We entrust New York City sanitation workers with the important responsibility to keep our streets clean and safe,” she told the News. “However, for female sanitation workers, a tough job can become even more difficult with the lack of adequate, functioning bathrooms and locker rooms.”
Many old city garages still have jerry-rigged changing areas for female sanitation workers, the Daily News reported last month. And even though women joined the ranks of New York’s Strongest almost 20 years ago, several garages have no facilities at all for women.
“The women on this job are tough, but this problem has been getting worse and worse over the years,” said Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, who recently testified before the City Council with several female workers.
They showed photos of leaking roofs and shower stalls covered with filled roach traps, broken tiles, and peeling paint.
Dimly lit facilities in the Bronx 4 garage led to a nickname “The Dungeon.”
Nespoli said the City Council and de Blasio Administration need to make the funding a priority during budget negotiations. The Council must approve a final budget by the end of June.
“I’m glad the Council is responding but we really need to get this to show the women in the DSNY that the city cares,” he said.
Sanitation Department spokesman Vito Turso said the agency is developing a plan to address problems with women’s facilities at garages and working with the union and the City Council to get funding in the budget.
