Residents were able to get to their jobs, perform their daily chores, and be assured that emergency vehicles could reach them if necessary. During this year street cleanliness improved. Although our Scorecard rating was 73.2 percent, slightly below the previous year's 74.6 percent due to the record breaking snow season, the number of districts rated unacceptably clean declined from seven in Fiscal 1995 to four in Fiscal 1996. In addition, we began working with the Mayor's Office and other City and State Agencies to achieve your promise to close the Fresh Kills Landfill by December 31, 2001. Below is a summary of some of the accomplishments of the Department and your administration during the past two years.
More detail is provided in the report.
All available Sanitation workers and uniformed supervisors, as well as support personnel to maintain vehicles and facilities, were pressed into service to successfully clear all 6,000 miles of City streets and highways. In the following week, the Department collected approximately 90,000 tons of refuse. This is the lowest number of dirty districts in eight years. The Department prepared the first update to the City's Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan since the Plan was first approved in 1992. The Update laid out the City's waste management strategy for the next ten years, including the beginning of waste export.