Citizens Union believes that the names of elected officials appearing on garbage cans throughout the city are an inappropriate form of political self-promotion. No public interest is served by knowing the name of the borough president or city council member who helped fund the availability and placement of these new trash cans. With their tax dollars, the citizens of New York pay for these garbage cans, not the elected officials who take credit for them.

The Department of Sanitation is culpable in this promotion because it seeks support directly from the individual elected officials instead of leaning on the city administration itself to fully fund its obligation to place the required number of garbage cans. Needing cash for cans, the Department goes fundraising and presses the elected officials to provide the needed funds in return for recognition of their good deeds.

Our report last week on advertising by members of the City Council highlighted another practice where tax dollars were used inappropriately to often extend nothing more than holiday or congratulatory greetings in local newspapers and event journals. Like these ads, the practice of placing the names of elected officials on publicly funded garbage cans should be trashed.

There no doubt are other examples of where elected officials use tax dollars for shameless self-promotion. The newspaper ads and garbage cans are but two examples of this inappropriate use.

Citizens Union of the City of New York, a non-partisan force for good government for more than 100 years, works to inform and engage New Yorkers, to ensure local and state government values its citizens, addresses critical issues, and operates in a fair, open, and fiscally sound manner.

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Peter J. W. Sherwin, Chair • Dick Dadey, Executive Director • info@citizensunion.org