Officials at the Dutch Kills Civic Association last month expressed disgust over the trash strewn condition of a fence surrounding an MTA training center on 31st Street between 39th Avenue and Northern Boulevard in Long Island City.

On the heels of a Gazette article that exposed the condition, MTA workers showed up at the site, cleared the trash and swept the sidewalk clean, Dutch Kills Civic Association Executive Director George Stamatiades said.

“But that was two weeks ago,” Stamatiades said. “No one has continued maintenance at the site and the trash is back, he said. ”And this time, remnants of Hurricane Irene are scattered all over the place including broken umbrellas, half-eaten fast food products, tree limbs, branches, leaves and other debris from the hurricane are all over the place.”

The Gazette returned to the site this week and found trash spilling from large plastic bags, plastic shopping bags and other containers dumped on a sidewalk leading to the southeast entrance to the 39th Avenue, N and Q subway entrance in Long Island City.

In a July 16 interview, Stamatiades told the Gazette, “This subway station is the gateway to the many new, major hotel chains featuring 1,000 rooms in the heart of the Dutch Kills community. What impression does this make on the hundreds of tourists that pass through this subway station on their way to visit our city,” he stated. “And here’s the big question; would the MTA allow this condition to exist at the Fifth Avenue/59th Street subway station in Manhattan?”

Dutch Kills Civic Association President Gerald Walsh said the civics want to make it clear that the city Department of Sanitation is not responsible to clean the trash.

“If the Sanitation Department was responsible, there would not be a problem,” Walsh said. “How often do we have to complain about this before someone at the MTA wakes up and takes this problem seriously?”

“This has nothing to do with the Sanitation Department,” he continued. “It’s all about the MTA. How long is it going to take for the MTA to wake up and smell this trash?

“MTA officials should be ashamed of their inability to keep this location clean,” Stamatiades said. “They treat this area like a dumping ground, so that’s what it’s turning into.”–Liz Goff