I’ve decided that this, from Susan Sontag, is my New Year’s resolution #1:

“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead.”

City garbage trucks divide duty: NY Times

City resuming trash pick up: NY Daily News

Cathie Black’s first day of school: NY Post

Federal panel sides with Ozzie’s Barista: Brooklyn Paper

The most useless stories of 2010: McBrooklyn

Brian Williams Video on Times’ discover of Brooklyn: McBrooklyn

Why is it nearly always about Manhattan?: Room 8

Residential garbage pick up resumes to day and that’s a good thing because Park Slope IS garbageland. Bags and bags of holiday garbage are piling up. Curbs have become mountainous regions of plastic garbage bags.

It’s starting to smell.

Apartment buildings can barely contain the trash in designated receptacles. Small buildings like ours where we bring our own garbage down to the front yard are really out of control. Large contractor bags fill with filled smaller garbage bags.The recycling bins are overflowing

The City suspended garbage and recycling pick-up for a week because the Sanitation Department was too busy dealing with snow. As of today, garbage pick up is back on though recycling will not resume until a later date.

It is up to homeowners and landlords to remove the snow so that garbage trucks have access to curb garbage.

Today’s the day: the clean up continues.

About Xmas trees: On our block trees are standing in snow piles. It’s actually looks kind of cool.

New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the New York City Department of Sanitation, and GreeNYC will be recycling Christmas trees into wood chips. These wood chips are used to nourish trees and plants on streets and gardens citywide. Or, take home your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree. The MulchFest will take place on January 8 and 9. Parks will host 35 chipping sites and 35 additional drop-off locations: 70 sites in all!

Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.

You have never seen so many snow plows.

Park Slope’s Seventh Avenue is covered in snow plows. Sort of. I must have seen five of them. Last night I was out and 2nd Street between 7th and 6th Avenues was closed off to cars and there were snow plows and other snow equipment clearing the streets around PS 321.

This morning many streets were closed off while snow plows emptied snow into dump trucks.  Quite a site. It reminded me of the children’s book, Katie and the Big Snow.

The book, written by Virginia Lee Burton (who also wrote Mike Mulligan and HIs Steam Shovel) is about a woman named Katie who drives a big red tractor in the City of Geoppolis. She saves the day when an enormous snowstorm hits the city. With her big snow plow on, Katy helps the police chief, the doctor, the superintendent of the Water Department, the fire chief and others as she plows them to their destinations.

Like Katie during the big snow, the NYC Department of Sanitation  is really going to town clearing the Park Slope snow build up.

Bring that Christmas tree of yours to a designated city park to be recycled into mulch that will nourish plantings across the city! A proper ending for a nice Christmas tree!

Join the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the New York City Department of Sanitation, and GreeNYC to recycle your Christmas trees into wood chips. These wood chips are used to nourish trees and plants on streets and gardens citywide. Or, take home your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree.

Last year, close to 24,000 Christmas trees citywide were recycled. Let’s top that number. The park will smell so nice.

This year, MulchFest will take place on January 8 and 9, 2011. Parks will host 35 chipping sites and 35 additional drop-off locations: 70 sites in all!

Please remember to remove all lights and ornaments before bringing the tree to a MulchFest site. Biodegradable bags will be provided if you wish to take some free mulch home.