On May 18, 2018, Brown emailed Frank Zeoli, Director of DGS, and told Zeoli that while the trash situation does not "look bad or out of compliance at the moment," appearances were deceptive. Brown told Director Zeoli that MLR merely "skimmed" a small portion of the refuge from the top of the trash container between regular pickups. This, according to Brown, resulted in the trash at the bottom of the barrel decomposing and omitting "an offensive odor."
On May 24, 2018, DGS posted a notice of violation on the door of 285 State Street. The notice indicated that the property was found in violation of Albany City Code chapter 313. Although chapter 313 contains a brigade of sections and subsections, no particular provision of the chapter was cited. Rather, the notice of violation contained a handwritten remark that read: "Please remove the trash cans from public view. Thank you."
{**62 Misc 3d at 286}On July 17, 2018, Brown emailed Director Zeoli again. Among other things, the email had attached a photograph that depicted a trash container at 285 State Street with the lid pried open by debris that had mushroomed over the top of the container. That same day, DGS again posted the 285 State Street door with a notice that MLR was in violation of chapter 313. Similar to the May notice, the July notice provided no specific provision violated by MLR but only bore a handwritten admonishment to store the trash cans neatly.