SOUTHEAST

Southeast Supervisor Michael Rights checks on unsightly debris at a clothing bin located off Route 6 last week. Southeast Supervisor Michael Rights has called for a clothing bin ban in the greater Brewster area.

Rights’s comments came last week at a news conference in front of a clothing bin located off Route 6.

The supervisor charged that the bins had become unsightly and “magnets for unlawful dumping. While some people may have good intentions by depositing unwanted clothing in a bin, they have become nothing but glorified dumps. This is a town-wide problem that needs a town-wide solution.”

Rights explained the so-called charitable aspect of clothing bins was flawed: “People think by dropping items into a metal container, the merchandise is automatically cleaned and donated to underprivileged families. This is not the case. The contents of such containers are harvested and used by rag manufacturers to produce mops. Shoes are disposed of and often fill our landfills. These bins aren’t what they appear to be.”

Rights has suggested that those desiring to donate hand-me downs to the poor drop them off at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop in Danbury, the Goodwill Store in Baldwin Place, or the Eagle Eye Thrift Shops that benefit Putnam Hospital Center in either Brewster or Mahopac. Tax deductible receipts are always issued.

Rights said the proposed ban is “not without controversy, since certain members of the Town Board have demanded a vote regarding enforcement of municipal law which will set a foolish precedent.”

Rights said that to “single out an ordinance for discriminatory non-enforcement and special treatment was arbitrary and capricious as well as being just plain silly.”

Councilman Richard Honeck, who, along with his fellow Town Board member Paul Johnson, has decided against seeking reelection next month, criticized Rights for his suggestion: “He never follows through. We give him assignments to investigate and all the man does it run around town calling press conferences and videos for YouTube.”

Honeck said a study must be undertaken to determine whether the bins were on private property or illegally on town land. “Those bins placed illegally must be given orders to remedy so they become compliant with the law. The source of the bins that have been legally placed must also be made public,” he said.

Meanwhile, Southeast Town Attorney Willis Stephens called it “unconstitutional” to treat bins by any particular group “differently from those sponsored by another. It is acceptable to view the bins as structures by requiring them to be located within setbacks and to have certificates of occupancy. Such legislative action will give our code enforcement officers tools and a standard to work with.”

—Eric Gross