MAKING A MUSEUM: Materializing Regimes of Value with the NYC Department of Sanitation

People’s interactions with the Garbage Mark

When I first began my observations, it was easy to dismiss my behavior as simply another way to avoid getting MORE New York scum on my shoes (and inevitably tracking it back into my apartment.) But rationally I knew better, as the mark is ALWAYS there, regardless of rain or shine, or bleaching from the restaurant next door (an issues I will discuss later). And despite Rathje’s early warning in Rubbish that “similar patterns of physical evidence can do not always indicate similar patters on behavior,” I wanted to press forward and try and discover if observing other New Yorkers interactions with the Mark could yield any solid conclusions (56). I positioned myself in different locations from 4th and 30th streets on the east side; to see if any patterns emerged in the way people interacted with a Garbage-Marked sidewalk. Observing pedestrians on Park Ave between 29th and 30th streets, their behaviors were as I expected. If given an empty sidewalk, people tended to avoid the corners (where the Mark is located, but also which is closest to traffic.) But when they were not able to walk in the “sweet spot” (not in the middle, not on the edge of the sidewalk, but about ¾ of the way across), people usually walked as close to, but without actually touching The Mark. Of course, as with most fieldwork I’m sure, not everyone behaved in that manner.

I observed similar behavior on Broadway between 11th and 12th. Some walked through it if pressed, but if they were looking down, most walked around. I began to think maybe there would be no way to tell if people’s use of such a complicated space as a sidewalk was altered because of the Garbage Mark. There were so many other factors at work! For one, many of the places where garbage is brought out is also the place where there are typically trees planted, fire hydrants placed- maybe people just don’t like to walk in a place their passage is impeded. Also, just like me, I’m sure most people don’t tend to like to walk in areas they see as “unclean.”

I soon realized I needed to expand my borders of observation. On a trip to the Upper East Side, (89th and 3rd Ave), I found, interestingly, that most garbage is housed in little pens next to the apartment buildings (and in cans no less!) On these sidewalks free of the Mark, I found that most people used the entire sidewalk, edge-to-edge, regardless of tree placement or sidestepping of other obstacles. So it did have some effect on pedestrian activity! These observations lead me to question the Mark’s ability to define a neighborhood. Though it is a broader generalization than I often make, it seemed that the lack of a Mark on a sidewalk certainly indicated a distinctive level of social status, be that a single-family home or a neighborhood who’s buildings either could afford to or simply always implemented the “garbage in the little pen” set-up.

Luckily, my observations also led me to more definitive ways the Garbage Mark can contribute to the understanding not only of a neighborhood, but also to the behavior of an area’s inhabitants. For one, the Garbage Mark can serve as a fairly reliable gauge for how much garbage is typically placed in a given spot on the sidewalk. When I walked by Marks that were only halfway covered with bags, I had an immediate understanding that “there was more to come.” Likewise, I began to wonder if the Mark itself actually dictates exactly where garbage bags are to be placed each day. Are their written trash boundaries when two restaurants are side-by-side? Or do employees simply continue placing their trash directly where the spot indicates they should? Thus, the “Mark” can serve not only as a barometer of the typical waste production of a given establishment, but also as a physically boundary as well.

The constant battle to remove the Garbage Mark is another important factor to consider. Every morning in many places employees take out the hose and battle the night’s crud from the sidewalks.

Much of their efforts, at least on Lexington Ave in lower Midtown, seem focused on washing the Garbage Mark away. Of course, little changes once the hosing is finished. Indeed, the spot remains, and water and whatever bleach substance was used in the fight goes directly into the street to join up with the other runoff. Though I know there are regulations about keeping the area in front of buildings clean, I wonder how much water is wasted in the seemingly fruitless endeavor.

After my time observing the Garbage Mark, I tend to think it would be rare for a New Yorker to feel the type of satisfaction expressed in “La Poubelle Agreece” of beginning the new day “without having to touch what the evening before we cast out of our lives forever” (Parks 102). For better or for worse, these Marks seem to be just another part of the landscape of the city as the gum spots, pigeons droppings, and litter (not that I support litter). Yet I wonder if there is a way to make the whole endeavor more, well, appealing? Would decals on the sidewalk that allow for a quick and easy spritz down be an answer to the wasted water? What about bins on the edge of the sidewalk for ALL neighborhoods? (Of course, this question does not bear in mind the ease of picking up bags versus opening bins when it comes to the Sanitation Department.) Would people be more likely to utilize the entire sidewalk if it seemed there was a partitioning? It would be interesting, in a museum setting, to set up a sidewalk type of scene complete with a dark Garbage Mark that visitors had cross upon entering. Even more interesting to me would be an analysis of the actually biological makeup of the Mark if not just to see what we are all, inevitably, tracking back into our apartments. This data that could be presented to those visitors after they made the choice weather to do the “walkthrough” or the old “sidestep.”