Deputy Mayor Leads Bronx Vehicle Cleanup, Towing Dozens in Quality of Life Push
Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry oversees removal of dozens of vehicles along Webster Avenue as part of a citywide effort to curb blight and restore neighborhood quality of life.
A Bronx cleanup effort led by Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry resulted in the towing of about 60 vehicles along a half-mile stretch of Webster Avenue on Sept. 5 as part of New York City’s Quality of Life policing initiative. The operation targeted the block between East 204th Street and East Gunhill Road and included cars, vans and campers reportedly abandoned or obstructing residents.
Among the finds were ghost cars with license plates not matching the registered vehicles, a camper that appeared to be used as a homeless shelter, a van that served as a bike repair shop, and several illegal car washes near a trash-strewn lot. Officers pried open the back of a white van with Mississippi plates and discovered bicycles and parts stacked inside, prompting one officer to call it a bike repair operation. Residents on a hillside above Webster Avenue clapped as tow trucks rolled in. A passerby shouted “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” from an open window. Daughtry filmed some of the work for social media, later telling The Post: “As you can see, a promise is made, a promise is kept. We’re outside in the Bronx.” He added that the city has been responding to 311 complaints and online posts.
City officials plan to notify the property owner of a nearby trash-strewn lot at 202nd Street and Webster that they have five days to clean up, or the city will do so and bill the owner. “It’s a bad look for the residents here in the Bronx, and we’re not going to tolerate that,” Daughtry said. “We’re going to restore the quality of life back to this neighborhood one block at a time.”
Daughtry has said he has been out across the city in response to 311 complaints routed to him or posted on his own social media, calling the work “fun” and “gratifying” when residents come home to find blight reduced and parking options improved. The Webster Avenue sweep is described as part of a broader effort to address blight and nuisance properties while enforcing sanitation and parking rules, with city officials signaling similar operations could continue in other neighborhoods if warranted.