They’re not just collecting trash — they’re also talking it.
It’s been just three months since the city Sanitation Department began incinerating businesses and residences online as part of a public humiliation campaign to shame them into proper garbage disposal — but victims claim the crusade is little more than futile flaunting.
Robert Ceraso had no idea his East Village bar had been plastered on the agency’s “Hall of Shame” since July until The Post asked Wednesday if it had been affecting business.
A picture of overflowing garbage outside Goodnight Sonny’s — alongside the cocktail bar’s name, exact address and the date of the alleged misconduct — was included in a carousel of offenders accused by the Sanitation Department of not taking care of its trash.
“Is that normal for us? No, of course not. Because if I had garbage outside like that every day, my customers wouldn’t be inside drinking cocktails and eating oysters,” Ceraso, who has owned the corner pub for nearly a decade, said.
Sanitation told The Post it vets all citizen-snapped pictures before posting them, a claim Ceraso found hard to believe.
The image was taken on a Sunday morning when the St. Marks Place streets were closed to traffic, making it impossible for a garbage truck to pick up the load, he said. Plus, Ceraso and the bar were not hit with a summons for the alleged trash no-no, city data shows.
The bar owner acknowledged there was a slip-up on his part for the overflow, but wondered whether the Sanitation Department was taking advantage of the misstep in order to keep up appearances that it was landing down on dirty neighbors.
“I don’t think it’s totally fair for us, because it was not a normal occurrence and we didn’t have a say, or we’re not able to defend ourselves. I don’t think that that’s the greatest thing ever,” Ceraso said.
“I understand the city’s just trying to put something forward facing, to make it look like they’re trying to get a job done, which is a hard job. … These are small businesses with people and employees. It would be better to help those businesses, in my opinion, than necessarily to shame them. But the city’s going to do what it’s going to do.”
After an inquiry by The Post Thursday, the Sanitation Department updated its Hall of Shame to remove business names and exact addresses — Goodnight Sonny’s image is still online, but now with plausible deniability.
Other businesses aren’t as lucky though, as the city has taken to social media to further publicly poke ones that have consistently committed trash treason.
Blank Street Coffee was scolded by the DSNY’s X account early last month after the business dumped leaking bags of trash on the sidewalk on at least two separate occasions.
“Businesses have to put their trash in bins. Everyone knows that. But this Blank Street Coffee at 71st and Lex seems to just…not care??” the department wrote in the disparaging post.
“Well, maybe they’ll care about daily summonses. Would you want to get coffee next to their piles of trash???”
And Sanitation followed through on its promise. Since Sept. 6, the shop has been given at least one summons per business day for failing to properly dispose of its garbage.
The Blank Street Coffee has racked up 28 violations in less than two months — totaling $14,000 in fines.
The shop has paid off most of the bills, but it’s not clear why it has continued tossing its trash onto the sidewalk. Representatives of the coffee shop did not return The Post’s numerous requests for comment.
Whether the Hall of Shame has yielded any positive results is unclear. The Department of Sanitation could not confirm whether there was a noticeable increase in summonses issued, or whether repeat offenders were finally reaching a breaking point.
The Hall of Shame was implemented in July and encouraged New Yorkers to snitch on the filthiest residential and commercial property owners — with the goal of humiliating them into cleaning up their streets and sidewalks.
“The distinction of Sidewalk Slob is reserved for the absolute worst of the worst – the traitors of the trash revolution who refuse to do their part in the battle to fight filth and send rats parking,” Robin Levine, the agency’s assistant commissioner of public affairs, told The Post.
“Not everyone’s submission is worthy of the hall of shame – that’s why we vet each photo before posting, and why New Yorkers can also continue to submit littering complaints through 311. Either way, we visit the site and issue a summons if appropriate.”
