Shovel ready.
Via Townhall:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio failed at getting junkies to throw their needles in special bins in the park. Now the city is spending $350,000 a year to hire six people to go around and pick up used needles. These people will be “dedicated to routinely canvassing and cleaning high-volume areas” that druggies like to frequent, The New York Post reported.
Here’s the icing on the cake: The city is spending another $450,000 a year for “specially trained mental-health workers” to go around and clean out the bins that weren’t being used. Those workers will also be responsible for “providing life-saving services and connections to treatment and other care” to druggies they meet.
The announcement comes after The Post wrote a piece about the bin program’s failure. […]
This was “a terrible idea since day one,” Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. (D-Bronx), a former drug addict, said. “Instead of addressing the dangerous public-safety conditions this activity creates, the city has turned our parks into shooting galleries.”
There are currently 53 parks employees who regularly pick up used needles as part of their routine job duties.