‘Mob’ panel can’t can us
‘Killer’ carter hits ban by city
A private carting company pulled off the streets last week after mowing down two pedestrians in separate incident fired back in court Wednesday, claiming the city doesn’t have the authority to put the brakes on its business.
During an appeal hearing, Sanitation Salvage attorney Avi Weitzman argued that the city’s Business Integrity Commission was created to address organized crime in the carting industry, not traffic safety.
On Friday, the commission served Sanitation Salvage with a notice of emergency suspension for demonstrating a “pattern of unsafe business operations that creates an imminent danger to life and property.”
The company is accused in the deaths of two people in the past year — including a parttime helper who fell off the side of the truck and was run over by his own 80,000-pound truck.
Sean Spence, who was driving the truck during both fatal accidents, lied to police after Mouctar Diallo died on Nov. 7, claiming that his co-worker was a homeless man who inexplicably jumped onto the side of the truck.
Questioning Nicholas Don, a city employee who handles the licensing for the integrity panel, Weitzman asked if another carting company was ever treated like Sanitation Salvage has been.
“You keep track of suspensions,” Weitzman asked Don. “Can you recall one company that was suspended for accidents?”
Weitzman also pulled a ProPublica report about the commission from his quiver as evidence that the agency has little sway over public safety issues.
“BIC doesn’t have the authority to revoke or immediately suspend a license based on a company’s out of service rating, or any other safety concern not explicitly under our authority,” panel Commissioner Dan Brownell was quoted in the report. ‘We have been tirelessly working on draft legislation that will expand BIC’s authority to include safety issues.’”
A hearing judge will render a decision after the appeal is concluded Thursday.
Sanitation Salvage contends that the suspension by the integrity panel was unfair because the company was never given an opportunity to defend itself.
“That it now faces a death sentence as a licensed business before even being afforded any hearing, in violation of every norm of due process, is simply beyond the pale,” the company argues in an Article 78 lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, which a judge ultimately denied.
An email to the Business Integrity Commission for comment on the hearing was not immediately returned.
Sanitation Salvage, one of the city’s largest private sanitation companies, has been in business for more than 30 years and hauls trash for 6,000 commercial businesses.
The commission has already made arrangements to have the city Sanitation Department pick up refuse for commercial businesses contracted with Sanitation Salvage, officials said. The agency will also be working with Sanitation Salvage’s 87 employees to find them jobs with other carting companies.
At the same time, several Bronx legislators, including state Sen. Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx) have put together a letter of support for Sanitation Salvage, calling the carting company “an exemplary example of a good corporate citizen.”
“In the two days since Sanitation Salvage was suspended, it has been brought to our attention by numerous businesses in our communities that their trash has not been collected,” the legislators wrote. “This has led to complaints from customers and an increase in the number or rodents around these businesses.”
Critics say that Sanitation Salvage bought the letter of support through the many campaign donations it doled out over the years.
“It’s not surprising that Jeff Klein would try to help one of his many corporate campaign contributors, even an unsafe company responsible for deaths and injuries,” said Allesandra Biaggi, who is trying to unseat Klein in next month’s primary.