A grocer on Manhattan’s West Side stinks at the huge piles of rubbish being dumped outside his store – pointing his finger at the posh tower across the street.
Three times a week, hundreds of bags of trash are piled up in front of the Morton Williams Supermarket on West End Avenue and 60th Street, says Avi Kanner, co-owner of the New York-area chain. According to Kanner’s photos, the buildup that occurred last week appeared to span 75 feet, rising in some places higher than the heads of passersby.
It’s average around the waist with variations,” Kanner told The Post.
The culprits: Porters from 21 West End Ave. , a 48-story glass and steel skyscraper whose affluent residents enjoy amenities including a pool, spa, wine tasting room, golf simulator, and indoor dog park. On Friday, 21 West End was advertising a one-bedroom condo for $5,200 a month and a three-bedroom condo for $10,000 a month.
“In my decades as a New York City business owner, I have never seen such a reckless disregard for neighborhood relationships,” Kanner exasperated, noting that piles of trash usually remain for a full 24 hours before being pulled out. People think it’s our trash. It stinks and it’s ugly.”
In an unusual development, the controversy appears to stem in part from the fact that the street itself has been set aside as private property — something peculiar to the apartment tower development that increasingly dominates the western 1950s and 1960s, according to sources. As such, tenant owners have a greater say about where the garbage is collected—although the New York Department of Sanitation still has to approve the location.
“My client owns the street,” said Jay Etkowitz, an attorney for Dermot Co, the real estate company that owns the 21st West End. “It’s a private street and they can put trash wherever they want on the street, subject to DSNY approval. My client obviously hasn’t submitted an application [to DSNY] to put waste in front of their building.”
When Morton Williams opened his shop in August 2019, he complained about remote dumping of his property owner, Elad Group, which developed the Morton Williams store’s condo building as part of One West End, a luxury apartment complex he built with Silverstein. Properties. Try to resolve the situation.
“We had discussions with building owners about litter before and after Morton Williams moved,” Elad CEO Yoel Sharjian told The Post. They kicked me out, but the amount of rubbish is huge now. This is not pleasant “.
Sharjian added, “In my opinion, the fact that this is a private street does not allow it [Dermot] More than other tenants in the area.”
After receiving complaints from Morton Williams last week, Dermot said it had requested a new “designated” area for its waste from the New York Department of Sanitation, according to Etkowitz.
Meanwhile, Kanner says, Dermot this week proposed an unsavory “settlement” — moving the trash away from the Morton Williams front entrance and putting it on the corner of West End Street and Freedom Place — near the second entrance to the supermarket. She also agreed to empty the trash after 4pm before the pick-up day instead of in the morning.
“Dermott has tried to accommodate the store to be a good neighbor,” Etkowitz said. They were taking trash away from the main entrance to the store. It might not be perfect, but they don’t have to do it.”
On Friday, DSNY spokeswoman Belinda Magers said she was not immediately able to comment on the specifics of the situation. In general, she said, DSNY conducts field visits with building representatives to locate appropriate assembly and assembly sites, both on public and private streets.
“If it’s a private street, that could lead to special circumstances,” Magers said. “Private streets aren’t very common, especially in Manhattan, but they do exist, especially in the outer boroughs.”
The situation erupted two weeks ago when Kanner began visiting West End Ave. frequently to study whether a new competitor is detrimental to the business.
“I spent more time in that place, and it got to me,” Kanner said of the rubbish piles. “I realized that this is terrible.”
Last week, he began sending a series of texts and emails to Dermot’s management, requesting changes to be made.
“You are destroying my business,” Kanner wrote Thursday.
Dermot’s Vice President, Sarah Gitlin, responded, “Please refrain from emailing Dermot about any issues with location or garbage pickup times, and direct your frustration to the appropriate party, as Dermot now spends an extremely long time responding to your complaint regarding issues over which we have no control. “.
.
