Solution: Ban The Reverse Beep; Let The Stupid Dogs And Baby Strollers Fend For Themselves

It wouldn’t be a frustrated spring-fall night of sleep without the beepbeepbeep of the carting trucks:

Veronika Conant considered abandoning her midtown co-op after years of being awakened by privately owned garbage trucks, crunching refuse at all hours of the night and early morning.

“The day after I moved in I wanted to move away,” said Conant, who instead of packing her bags invested in double-paned windows. “It was just unbearable. I couldn’t even hear the 11 o’clock news on the television I was trying to watch –that’s how bad it was.”

Privately-owned garbage trucks that bang, grind and beep while they pick up commercial waste and construction debris have become an unwelcome alarm clock for a growing number of New Yorkers, according to city Department of Environmental Protection data. These noise complaints have shot up 40 percent in the past year.

The department said the spike in noise complaints is due partly to the growing number of residential units sprouting up in formerly commercial areas, including parts of lower Manhattan and midtown.

. . .

While the Department of Sanitation picks up residential garbage during the day, the private carting industry picks up commercial garbage and construction debris after hours, when city streets are less congested.

The private-carting problem is largely found in Manhattan, where a number of community boards said the noise is chronic, and a few boards are investigating a recent uptick in complaints.

The boards, at least one City Council member and environmental department investigators have successfully convinced businesses that use these carters to schedule pickups earlier or to use the same company to limit the number of pickups.

One East Side community board drafted a resolution last month, asking the City Council to prohibit private carters from picking up garbage and construction debris between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The noise code now restricts the level of carting noise to 85 decibels within 50 feet of a residential building between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. That’s about the amount of heavy traffic generates. That number will decrease to 80 in 2012.

Ugh, No

Please, no, not this*:

Maybe you’ve trained your dog to fetch a toy, or even your slippers. Now it’s time to test those obedience skills at your office copier and fax machines.

You guessed it — tomorrow is “Take Your Dog to Work Day.”

New York City dogs already enjoy more human privileges than most — the fancy spas and designer clothes — and now canine commuters across the city are getting ready to dive into the morning rush with their owners. More than 20,000 employers nationwide are expected to open their doors to dogs Friday for the 10th annual event.

*Over and over, again and again.

A Poop’s Errand

Inconsiderate dog walkers, like shooting stars, are easy to find but tough to catch:

It was just after dawn when Theo Otibu began prowling Ditmas Park in Brooklyn in his unmarked Sanitation Department car. He scanned the sidewalk for an elusive prey, one known only by the droppings of its best friend: the dog owner who does not scoop.

He spotted a woman in a long black coat leading a small white dog. Mr. Otibu, who has been a police officer in Ghana and a United Nations monitor in Bosnia, brought the car to a stop alongside a minivan and watched her in stony silence through his side mirror.

He could see all the telltale signs of negligent intent: the irritated expression, the hurried pace, the absence of a plastic bag in the pocket. “People who pick up have time,” he said earlier. “You can look at some people right away and say, ‘This person is not going to pick up after their dog.’ ”

The anxious woman and her dog made their way down the street, and Mr. Otibu rolled slowly with them. But after five long minutes of hushed stakeout, the dog did not go.

“It’s a lost,” he said, pulling away.

. . .

By 9 o’clock, prime dog-walking time was waning and Mr. Otibu still had not found any violators. He was anxious. He sped to a spot in Bushwick that he had visited earlier in the day and is popular with dog walkers.

Suddenly, as he made a second trip around the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Seigel Street, he spotted a man in gray sweat pants with two dogs, one of which was crouching, off-leash. “I have him for the off-leash, but now I’m going to wait to see if he picks up.”

He watched as the man turned from the pile and headed toward the agent’s car. It was the moment Mr. Otibu had been waiting for. “I’m going to write him a ticket,” he said, getting out of the car.

The man showed Mr. Otibu his identification and a Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association card. He said that he was a police officer, but that he had forgotten his badge in his apartment. As he went with his dogs to retrieve it, Mr. Otibu wrote him a $200 ticket for not having a dog on leash. When the man returned, he still did not have his badge. He took his ticket and went home.

“I’m not sure he’s a real cop,” Mr. Otibu said. “But that’s not my problem. My problem is to give out a ticket.”

A little later on a nearby corner, he spotted another crouching dog. The owner was on his cellphone, another tip-off. Mr. Otibu watched as the dog deposited in the grass. Not a bag in sight.

Mr. Otibu approached and asked for picture identification. Without identification, agents cannot write summonses, and a number of dog owners sometimes refuse to show ID or claim to have left it at home. Leaving dog waste is a health code violation, not an arrestable offense, so in those cases, agents have to let the matter drop.

Wow . . . some cops really have no shame.

Right Idea . . .

. . . now let’s work on that icky acronym:

Regina Massaro is an animal-rescue worker without borders.

From junkyards in Jamaica to gritty industrial lots in St. Albans, Massaro seeks out some of Queens’ roughest addresses with one goal in mind — fighting animal overpopulation.

Earlier this month, Massaro, founder of the nonprofit group Spay Neuter Intervention Project, or SNIP, journeyed to a Springfield Gardens used-car lot, where Bobo, a 9-month-old mastiff with a tan coat and a black muzzle, patrolled the yard.

Though a giant in the making, Bobo acted every bit the attention-loving puppy when Massaro approached the gate. “He came right up to the fence, wagging his tail and licking my hand,” said Massaro, 58, of Maspeth. “He’s like a big baby.”

Working dogs like Bobo are often treated by their owners as property, not as pets, and play a large role in overcrowding at the city’s teeming shelters.

“I believe the junkyard dog is the root cause of dog overpopulation,” Massaro said before taking Bobo to be neutered at a mobile veterinary clinic operated by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Massaro, who founded SNIP (www.snipnyc.org) in 1996, travels to industrial areas in Queens and Brooklyn looking for dogs like Bobo. She does the same with feral cats, trapping them in vacant lots and seedy areas behind shopping centers.

For Massaro, who runs SNIP with three volunteers on a shoestring budget, arranging for 50 dogs and cats a month to be spayed or neutered demands sacrifice.

Perfect Time To Release Those Commemorative Stamps Celebrating The 119th Anniversary Of Washington Statehood

In other news, the Advance reports that mail service is still widely used on Staten Island:

Don’t disregard the extra pennies you find laying around the house or car — you might need them Monday.

That’s when the price of mailing a first-class letter increases 1 cent, to 42 cents, along with a number of other postal rate hikes that take effect.

But there is a way to avoid paying more to mail a letter.

Forever stamps, which can be used after the hike, can still be bought at the old 41-cent price. But the cost of the Forever stamp will also increase Monday, to 42 cents.

Those still having unused 41-cent stamps will be able to purchase a new 1-cent stamp — the Tiffany Lamp — to make up the difference. Several new 42-cent stamps are also available.

The passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in 2006 allows the Postal Service to increase its rates every May in accordance with the rate of inflation as indicated in the Consumer Price Index.