- On March 6, the Association hosted all six candidates for NYC Council District 4 for a town hall meeting at Evans Tower.
- Participants included candidates Vanessa Aronson, Faith Bondy, Luke
Florczak, Virginia Maloney, Rachel Storch, and Ben Wetzler. - Valerie Mason, President of E 72nd St Association, moderated the event. A
recording of the candidates’ statements and Q&A is here.
Author: Andrew Fine
E 86th St Association places Big Belly trash bins in the neighborhood
In partnership with two local buildings, to help improve the neighborhood’s cleanliness, the Association has launched a pilot program to place Big Belly trash receptacles on the corner of 86th St & 3rd Ave and on the corner of 84th St & Third Ave.
“Currently, many of the old green trash cans, which were deployed nearly a decade ago by DSNY, are in a state of disrepair,” said Association President Elaine Walsh. “Hopefully, there will be future city funding to replace or repair these cans. In the meantime, or in addition, we are looking to work with buildings in the neighborhood to consider ‘adopting’ a Big Belly in partnership with our organization.”
On a limited basis, the Association will defray some of the upfront cost of acquiring a Big Belly for an individual building, which would be responsible for emptying it as part of its responsibilities of keeping adjacent sidewalks clean. Area resident managers, who have used the receptacles, have commented that they are “game-changers” in terms of controlling waste.
“East 86th St Association thanks Evans Tower and Park Lane Towers for partnering with us,” concluded Walsh.
Resident Manager Jan Ochlan of Evans Tower said, “We believe the use of the Big Belly solar technology and high capacity is going to save our building a great deal of staff time, as we will have far less trips out to maintain the public plaza in front of our building.”
A typical Big Belly can compact up to 150 gallons of trash via solar power and has a sensor providing an alert that it is full. It is also fully enclosed, which mitigates rodents and improper access.
Interested buildings, boards, property managers, or local businesses should contact the Association.
State Assembly Member Alex Bores – State of the District 2025
State Assembly Member Alex Bores continues to support the East 86th Street Association. At his State of the District event on January 25th 2025, Assembly Member Bores gave Association President Elaine Walsh a shout-out. He has been a source of funding and support for our organization, working for the 73rd District. Many thanks to Alex Bores.
East 86th 4,5,6 Will Finally Become Fully Accessible!
The East 86th Street Association has long advocated for accessibility for our Lexington Avenue Station. We even had a petition when the MTA settled for just one elevator to the local track when the building at the NE Corner of 86th and Lexington Avenue was being built. Well, our day is finally on the horizon. An elevator, much like the one on the NE corner will be built on the NW corner to connect to the downtown local platform. Elevators on the inside of the station will provide access to both the uptown and downtown express trains. There will still be no ability to transfer from uptown to downtown inside the station. The MTA is promising additional “modernization” to the station in the process. More good news- the project is funded and underway! Completion “estimated” by the end of 2026.
Summer Clean Team Another Hit!
Gathering on an ideal summer day were dozens of volunteers to once again unite to clean East 86th Street. While sanitation is always a challenge on one of NYC busiest thoroughfares, it can be noted that as our numbers seem to grow for every event, the actual amount of garbage being picked off the streets continues to decline. Neighbors and passersby were effusive in their thanks to our volunteers that were rewarded with a Shack Burger at the end of the event. Fun was had by all. Thank you to our volunteers and Shake Shack for the eats!
