On a recent Saturday afternoon, 24-year-old Haitian man named King Malik nodded towards the gutter of the Nostrand Avenue curb he stood by and said this about sanitation in the Flatbush area: "Look at it, it's horrible."

Tucked between the curb and the tires of parked cars were an apple, a sponge or soaked cloth of some kind, plastic and other refuse. On the sidewalk, piles of garbage bags lined the street. It was past noon and there are no weekend pick-ups anyway.

"They don't be cleaning it," Malik, a long-time resident, said. "We get used to it. There's nothing you could do about it."

Asked if he ever complained, Malik said: "Complain to who?"

The New York City Department of Sanitation is giddy over record levels of cleanliness overall, but in neighborhoods such as Flatbush, sanitation still needs to be picked up. When one walks through parts of central Brooklyn – where most of New York's Haitians live – they are

dirtier than other areas of the city.

Some residents say overall cleanliness is satisfactory, but others find it lacking. Visitors abhor that they sometimes have to walk around or over litter strewn on the sidewalk of major corridors or multi-story buildings.

"More often than not, they'll criticize us [Haitians] because there's a lot of us living around here," said Yvon Ménard, a hospital dietary worker on his way to hang out at Impeccable Barbershop near Beverly Road. "Cleanliness is the number one thing because it affects

everything, including your health."

Officials blame commercial strips like Nostrand Avenue's chronic mess on residents not complaining enough about those areas, compared to residential streets.

A Flatbush Development Corporation director said part of the problem is that some residents are not educated enough about their role in the area's cleanliness and there is no standard for them to emulate. Broken glass bottles on the sidewalks, gutters filled with debris from stores and passersby, overflowing trash cans at the corners, and the leaving of appliances make parts of Flatbush and East Flatbush eyesores. After a downpour, puddles were observed, which indicates that a drain may be clogged, according to a district manager.

On a recent Monday, black bags of garbage and blue bags with recyclable items were observed on both sides of the street. Usually, one side is designated for pick-up. Signs on the left side of that strip of Nostrand, from Church to Beverly, stated that it is to be swept from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

Yet at about 2 p.m., the gutter contained empty laundry detergent bottles, pieces of cardboard, sales circular pages, and other debris that made one wonder whether the sweeper had actually passed by.

"It doesn't mean that a sweeper didn't come by," Kathy Dawkins, a Department of Sanitation spokesperson, said. "That's a very congested area with a lot of pedestrians and vehicular traffic."

And what about the mess in front of 1567-1575 Nostrand Avenue that Saturday? Ironing boards and trash mixed with blue bags for recycling on that windy day.

"Sometimes, they may be brought out earlier than they're supposed to," she said, adding that she would pass on the information for investigation and enforcement. "Maybe they don't know when the pick-up times are."

Education needed

Also that day, at the corner of Tilden Avenue steps away, a litterbin was filled past its rim. A pile of tires rested against it and the light pole. One man was observed resting a couple of poles against the steel pole before driving off in a shiny black Toyota.

All that points to a need for residents to be educated about their role in keeping their streets sanitary, some say.

Cathy Hickey, director of economic development at Flatbush Development Corporation, said residents must be educated on ways to keep the neighborhoods clean and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) should be formed to supplement the City's efforts so that they get used to seeing how tidy their streets could get.

"You have a lot of people coming from less-developed countries where they are not familiar with the infrastructure for sanitation, the water supply, and their role in it," Hickey said. "They are not familiar with putting trash in trash cans.

"It's stinky to say, but that's what happens," Hickey said.

Some residents interviewed said the level of cleanliness is fine – even while staring at unrecognizable items, broken bottles, or plastic bags steps away.

Dawkins said commercial strips get dirty quickly because more people use them. She said they are swept six times weekly and storeowners may be fined for not cleaning their sidewalks twice daily.

Still, it is not enough. On strips like Nostrand Avenue, from Parkside Avenue to Flatbush Junction, some shut buildings often have garbage accumulating in front.

"It leaves a lot to be desired," said Asquith Reid, a spokesperson for 45th City Councilman Kendall Stewart, whose district has blocks that are among the worst observed. "It's not what it should be, by a long shot."

Dawkins said merchants' Business Improvement District (BIDs) assist the City. Hickey said the Flatbush Development Corporation has filed applications for a BID covering the Flatbush-Nostrand Junction. Plans for BIDs in other parts nearby are not formal yet, but would be worked on over the next two years.

State Sen. Kevin Parker, who spearheaded a taskforce to work on developing the Nostrand Avenue Corridor, did not return repeated calls for comment.

Church Avenue, from East 18th Street to Flatbush Avenue, for example, is difficult to maintain, according to Terry Rodie, district manager of Community Board 14. She said the high amount of daily traffic, cars, businesses that do not comply – despite being given many summons – and

vendors that peddle goods on the sidewalk make it difficult to keep clean. Many of those vendors are Haitian.

Also, she adds, residents sometimes use litterbins to dispose of garbage from their homes. People also dump appliances and other items on vacant parts, including the side of the Q-train Church Avenue station. Rodie said, "This is, unfortunately, our own people doing this."

Most storekeepers do sweep the front of their establishments – 18 inches into the street from the curb, as required by law. They also hire exterminators to fumigate their interiors. But not everyone follows or are aware of the rules.

Officials respond

Reid, Stewart's spokesman, said letters go out twice during the year informing residents of cleaning procedures and recourses. They are in English, although many in the 45th District are immigrants and some may not speak English well.

"They know, and should know, that we're here and that we'll reach out to them," Reid said, adding that the Councilman's office sends out letters to residents. "There's no one in the Haitian community that doesn't read English, that we send out letters to."

He said Stewart plans to have an employee walk from block to block, taking note of such problems as sanitation within the next four months. Yvette Clarke, council member for the 40th district, said she has a Sanitation Taskforce to educate residents about cleaning the streets,

but its target audience was primarily residential. It has also been dormant since the summer.

"I will look into it," Clarke said of the dirty commercial strips.

In comparison, 50 percent of Brooklyn's 18 community boards scored above 90 in October for their acceptable street cleanliness. For acceptably clean sidewalks, 12 of them received a score of 90 or better, including community boards 14 and 17. Acceptably means that 70 percent of the blocks are well-kept, according to the report prepared by the Mayor's Office of Operations, Dawkins said.

Overall, officials say, the Sanitation Department is responsive and does keep the streets well, but it could be better.

Sherif Fraser, district manager at Community Board 17, said public sanitation is going well, but that improvements are necessary. In November, seven residents called to complain about sanitation, most of them for negligence on East 58th Street. Last month, she said she received five.

Dawkins could not immediately provide the number of sanitation complaints received through the 311 Hotline, but encourages residents to use it.

"The residents are our eyes and ears," Fraser said. "If we are not aware of the problem, we cannot ask for the service."