May 2, 2007

Dear Landlords,

Every spring the City of New Brunswick experiences the departure of thousands of Rutgers University students who live in off-campus rental housing in the City’s 5th and 6th Wards.

In their wake, the City is left with a tremendous amount of unwanted items. In many cases these items are stacked several feet high along entire lengths of many City’s streets. Items often cast off by students include clothes, books, furniture, major appliances, electronics, computers, mattresses and garbage. Many of these items are simply dumped on the ground with no regard to the City’s limits on the amount of garbage residents can place out for a single collection. The large unorganized piles of items often block sidewalks and streets, creating unsafe conditions for pedestrians and motorists and reducing the City’s already limited amount of on-street parking.

This practice violates numerous City ordinances governing the handling and collection of trash and recyclable materials. This practice forces New Brunswick to commit significant monetary and human resources to collect and dispose of these items and garbage, placing an enormous, unnecessary and unwarranted financial burden on City taxpayers.

We would like to ask for your cooperation in Project Move Out, a multi-pronged initiative to expand students’ awareness of our garbage and recycling laws, encourage students to get an early start in planning their departure and provide strict targeted enforcement of our laws by the City’s Division of Housing Inspection and Department of Public Works. 

Please visit New Brunswick’s Project Move Out Website at www.cityofnewbrunswick.org/moveout/ to learn more on how you can help New Brunswick reduce the amount of items and garbage left behind and improve students’ awareness and compliance with our laws. The web site includes pictures of what was left behind in other years; flyers and signs about Project Move Out you can print at home to post in your properties; detailed information of New Brunswick’s garbage and recycling laws and procedures and contact numbers for the City’s Department of Public Works, Division of Recycling and Division of Housing Inspections.

The City launched Project Move Out in 2005. Since then, many students responded to our call for action. Students’ cooperation reduced the avalanche of items placed out for collection at the end of May, when many of their leases expire, and helped New Brunswick save thousands of dollars in landfill fees due to a reduction in the amount of garbage they left behind. But there is still more that can and needs to be done.

This year, New Brunswick and Rutgers University are again working together to inform students of our garbage and recycling laws and their responsibilities when moving out of their off-campus apartment. This outreach includes: delivering notices about Project Move Out to every property within the 5th and 6th Wards; posting flyers and signs on campus and in Student Centers; sending e-mail alerts to all Rutgers Students; placing announcements on both the City’s and the University’s Cable Access Bulletin Boards; and working with The Daily Targum, Rutgers’ student newspaper, and other local daily newspapers to ensure media coverage prior to the start of enforcement.

Information on Project Move Out is also available at the Division of Housing Inspections, 25 Kirkpatrick Street, the City Clerk’s Office, 78 Bayard Street and the Department of Public Works, 400 Jersey Avenue.

This letter is going out to all of the registered landlords in the Fifth and Sixth Wards to give you notice of our intention to ensure compliance with our laws and reduce the amount of material that is left behind by students moving out of your rental units. The City will hold landlords responsible for the actions of their tenants. All summonses issued during Project Move Out carry with them a mandatory appearance in New Brunswick Municipal Court and fines of up to $2,000, plus court costs.

Thank you for your time and cooperation in our latest effort to improve the lives of our residents. If you have any questions about Project Move Out please contact my office at 732-745-5004.

                                                               

Very truly yours 

JAMES M. CAHILL

                                                                        Mayor