Elmira taking new action to clean up downtown, riverfront
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – The City of Elmira says it’s renewing efforts to clean up its downtown area and riverfront after a local non-profit group used social media to highlight issues involving trash, needed repairs and safety.
“I sometimes feel it’s the biggest regret of my life to have moved here, and I don’t want to feel that way,” a resident said during the public comment portion of Monday night’s City Council meeting. “I don’t want to feel that way. So, I pick up garbage. I make him walk and pick up garbage with me.”
One by one, the Mayor, City Manager and City Council heard from residents worried about the city’s cleanliness and safety, and what it means for the economy.
“The city that I grew up in and was my home, I’m afraid to live here. I don’t want to live here right now,” another resident said.
“It is an incredibly hostile downtown,” said Andrew Roosa-Decicco, the Co-Owner, Copy Express. “We cannot get visitors, we cannot get people shopping in our business district, we cannot fill up our bars and restaurants.”
Residents voiced their reaction to a letter and photos sent to the City of Elmira by the non-profit Friends of Chemung River Watershed.
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“The truth is that this city has a problem that’s been going on for decades, and that’s a lack of pride,” said the group’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Zilinksi.
Zilinski’s letter asked City Officials to picture walking around downtown Elmira as a tourist. The walk would start after parking at the city-owned Centertown Garage.
“If the manager of the Centertown Garage can’t clean up human feces out of the stairwell, and if the city can’t fix the elevators, stop charging for street parking until there is a safe alternative for our citizens and tourists to park,” Zilinsky said during the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting.
The letter describes sidewalks as filthy and in need of a power wash. It says Riverfront Park has been overrun by weeds and trash. On the Lake Street walking bridge, the letter says you can see graffiti, a splintering bench, and cigarette butts in the only planter. Under the Clemens Parkway Bridge, the letter says volunteers offering to clean up a homeless encampment were chased away by people who live there.
“If you felt shamed by my letter, which included a description of the issues without passing blame, then take action,” Zilinsky told the City Council.
Zilinsky says the City’s 2024 Budget shows a total of five vacancies in the Buildings Department and Garbage Department. She says the salaries for those vacancies total nearly 200,000 dollars. Zilinsky says the Chemung River Friends could keep the downtown area clean all year for less than half of that amount.
One woman spoke up to accuse the non-profit of trying to make money.
“I am extremely offended by it. I read it. It started out good. Then it turned into nothing for me other than a money grab,” the woman said.
Zilinsky told 18 News the point of the proposal was to show it wouldn’t cost a lot of money to keep downtown clean, including the garage. On Tuesday, she told us she saw city crews cleaning up parts of Riverfront Park.
“For us it’s a very difficult situation,” said Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell. “Because a lot of this is happening with our homeless population who are non-compliant and very difficult to deal with. We try to do everything we can to address these problems. The one thing we did get out of this night is that we may willing partners out there to volunteer, to help us and do this as a team member, instead of the entire city trying to do it on its own.
The Friends of the Chemung River Watershed say the Mayor and City Manager invited the group to a meeting later this month to discuss possible solutions.
You can read the full letter below:
Press-Release-2024-May-Chemung-River-Friends-1Download
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