Skip to content

Odor Complaints in Liberal City Has Residents Disgusted

 

Summer in this city is not all that pretty but rather an assault on one’s sense of sight and smell. And the smell is getting terrible.

Walking around the Big Apple these days, you can smell some of the foulest odors that are indescribable, according to one disgusted New Yorker.

“Every morning I smell like a rancid smell, like rotten food that has been sitting there for a while,” said Justin Colon, a porter at a Times Square office tower.

Tech worker Jaiden Williams, 37, described the city’s stench as “gnarly and cadaverous.”

“No matter what you do — if you douse yourself in a bottle of perfume or Chanel No. 5 — the scent is still on the tip of your nose,” Williams said. “Because it’s so hot, it permeates. Either you don’t come out of your house, or you just deal with it.” 

Fashion worker Milly Aldon called New York “an alive city that smells like death.”

“It’s a rotten, lingering smell,” she said. “And if it rains, it smells even worse.”

Calls to 311, New York City’s non-emergency hotline number, show that outdoor odor complaints are at an all-time high and up 54% from last year, totaling 5,746 odor complaints through June 30.

Having lived in New York City for several years, I can tell you that some pretty unsavory odors permeate the air during the peak summer months. If you ever had the displeasure of waiting for a subway train in the middle of August in an underground station, you know the struggle and the smell. But this is something altogether very different and, to some degree, extremely concerning. What on earth is that smell making New Yorkers sick to their stomach?

The answer is really quite simple, albeit extremely gross. The smell New Yorkers are now being forced to deal with is that of human feces. all over the streets.

“I clean the steps going down to the subway. I’ve cleaned up the poop so many times,” said Justin Colon. “This morning I was cleaning up poop.”

One Manhattan cop said, “It is not uncommon to see human feces on the street. I guess you only have to pick up after your dog.”

According to an NYC detective, the mounting homeless population in the city has taken to literally using the sidewalks as commodes.

According to another city cop, the issue is, along with hotter temperatures, the city is dealing with all the abandoned outdoor dining sheds restaurants were forced to build if they wished to remain open after NYC opened up in 2020 after the pandemic. People throw their garbage in these sheds, while the homeless use them as public bathrooms. “The city is definitely dirtier — and dirt doesn’t smell like perfume,” the cop said.

It isn’t like the homeless can use the city’s public bathrooms either because, as of July 2, 2022, 14% of them were officially closed.

In 2016, then-mayor DiBlasio supported a bill that decriminalized public urination, which was part of the “Criminal Justice Reform Act,” which eliminated any Quality of Life fines in New York City. NYC’s Department of Sanitation says that a plan goes into effect this month to add 40 million dollars to the street basket pick-up program, which they believe will help alleviate the problem. Somewhat. It will take a lot more than street baskets to make a difference.

This story syndicated with permission from For the Love of News