Elected officials on Manhattan’s West Side are telling DSNY it’s time to clean up their act—the city may have reopened but lax sanitation efforts are putting a stink on tourism.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many city-run programs halted or were scaled back due to protocol safety measures and staffing shortages—and into the fall of 2021 some workers refused to be vaccinated despite the mandates. Although Mayor Eric Adams recently flipped the switch on encouraging tourism back into New York City through the Winter Outing Program, some elected officials fear that sanitation conditions will deter tourists from visiting their district.
Councilmember Erik Bottcher, along with several of his colleagues, has received numerous complaints from constituents that areas in the Village, Chelsea, and Hell’s Kitchen are becoming hovels of mounting trash bags, overflowing corner garbage baskets, and litter across the street and sidewalks.
