Joshua Service of Queens spotted a pile of garbage under a metro bridge in Crown Heights near Atlantic Avenue and posted a video calling out the city’s lack of response. The Department of Sanitation said it couldn’t clear the rubbish right away because it might be a homeless encampment, so social services needed to visit first. Then commenters started telling him to stop filming and do it himself, so he showed up with gloves and a rake and filled ten trash bags in about two hours.
He didn’t do it for attention. Bystanders kept asking if he worked for the city, and he told them he was simply a concerned New Yorker. City Councilmember Chi Ossé planned to honor him at the cleaned-up site last Friday, and the Department of Homeless Services later found a resident living in the area and moved them into a shelter. One person’s effort turned into two wins.
The name is real, and so is his outlook.“Raindrops make puddles, so every little bit counts,”he said, proving that the comment section isn’t always just noise. Sometimes it’s a push to do something great. Would you have grabbed the rake or kept filming?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.