All in NYC
November 24 | Sophie Neuhaus
When COVID-19 hit New York City in the spring of 2020, much of the City shuttered its doors and shut down. Not the Department of Sanitation. Since March, Sanitation Workers have been working around the clock, overcoming one obstacle after another, to keep New York clean, healthy, and safe for everyone.
We spoke to Sanitation Worker Anibal “A Rod” Rodriguez from the Queens 12 Garage about what it’s meant to be one of New York’s Strongest during the COVID-19 pandemic and why he’s committed to going All In on NYC.
What does it mean to you to be All In on NYC?
To be ALL IN on NYC is to be behind the movement of the city that we have here & be ALL for it. We’re a city like no other with tons of city workers who commit to making NYC a better place. Just like the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child,” it takes the City’s essential workers to provide the best NYC possible.
What has made you proud to be a New Yorker during this time? What’s given you hope?
For me, there’s no place like home (NYC). You can leave here for days & be homesick very quickly. Being a Sanitation Worker for the City has given me much hope about NYC & our future. It makes me proud to represent NYC in our own colors & by being NYC’s Strongest.
What role does DSNY play in NYC’s recovery?
DSNY plays a HUGE role in NYC’s recovery. We are truly the unsung heroes of NYC, believe it or not. Picture a city with garbage everywhere, with no one there to service the clean up and make it look easy while doing so. We do a lot of the dirty work for NYC that sometimes goes unnoticed. We don’t do it for the praise -- we do it to play our part in making sure NYC stays up to par.
What do you want people to know about DSNY’s work over the last few months?
Over the last few months, the work for us over at DSNY was by far one for the books. Compared to many New Yorkers that are out of jobs & home as a result of the pandemic, we have been fully functional & continuously working. Our daily task(s) made it extremely hard to breathe behind a N95 mask & to do our job. To provide this service for the people of NYC & to make sure we performed our job efficiently gives me joy to know we played a huge part in keeping our city safe. We are literally a walking testament to being “NYC’s Strongest” & we take a huge amount of pride in that.
To learn more about All In NYC, visit NYCEDC. Click here to join the Sanitation Foundation in supporting New York’s Strongest.