Landlord's Sidewalk Cleaning Efforts Insufficient

DOS issued a violation notice to landlord for having a dirty sidewalk. The DOS inspector noted there were newspaper, napkins, and other loose and matted debris on the sidewalk in front of landlord's brownstone building. Landlord's daughter lived in the building. She claimed that she and upstairs tenants regularly put out trash in secured bags the night before collection. She said that people or animals had opened the bags overnight and strewn the trash, which she removed at 10:30 a.m. Her husband swept and cleaned the sidewalk and street in front of the building on alternate evenings, and had done so the night before the violation was issued. The ALJ ruled against landlord and fined him $100. Landlord appealed, claiming that his daughter had made reasonable efforts to keep the sidewalk clean. ECB ruled against landlord. Cleaning efforts required vary with each case, depending on the type of building, the neighborhood, and the amount of pedestrian and auto traffic. Here, the building was a three-story brownstone on a residential street, with a college, grocery store, and pizzeria at the nearby corner. The building was three blocks away from a large main street, and the block had heavy foot and auto traffic. Under the circumstances, landlord's cleaning efforts were insufficient, particularly since some of the debris found by DOS was matted. Landlord didn't maintain an adequate daily cleaning schedule.

Griffin: ECB App. No. 1000694 (11/18/10) [3-pg. doc.]