Commuter rail

A 25-year-old Queens resident, Joshua Service, spent two hours cleaning a trash-strewn underpass near the Nostrand Avenue Long Island Rail Road station in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, after his 311 complaints about the mess drew slow municipal response. Service said sanitation crews were delayed because the site was also considered a homeless encampment, which under city rules requires the Department of Social Services to visit seven consecutive days before the area can be cleared. Frustrated by the wait, Service put on gloves and filled about 10 garbage bags himself, later saying he wanted to make the area "neater for everybody."

Neighbors praised the effort, and the Department of Homeless Services said that when it visited the site days later, it helped relocate a person living there into a shelter. City Councilmember Chi Ossé plans to publicly recognize Service for his volunteer cleanup.