New York City stinks -- or so say a growing number of 311 callers filing odor complaints in the five boroughs these days. Mayor Eric Adams says it smells, too, but for him, the biggest offender isn't anything related to trash or hygiene.
It's pot.
"The number 1 thing I smell is pot," the Democrat said when asked about a New York Post report on odor complaints reaching an all-time high during an unrelated news conference on Friday. "It's like everybody is smoking a joint now, you know? Everybody's got a joint."
"Maybe I have a New York nose," Adams added. "I'm not smelling, you know, filth."
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The mayor may say he's not smelling any general nastiness on New York City streets, but thousands of others are - and they're making their feelings known, according to the Post.
Complaints about outdoor smells to 311 soared 54% in the first six months of the year compared with the first six months of 2021, with 5,746 reported between the start of 2022 and June 30, 2022, the Post analysis of city data found.
The sanitation department's assistant commissioner for public affairs, Joshua Goodman, said he could not confirm the exact numbers reported by the Post because odor complaints might go to different places. "Foul odor from an unknown source," for example, would route to 311 while "foul odor from a neighbor" might to go the NYPD or a different agency.
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Calls about body odor or cooking smells do not go through 311, the mayor's office confirmed.
Regarding the smells people are complaining about that do, Adams said idling vehicles are prime offenders. His deputy press secretary, Kayla Mamelak, followed up with a later statement saying that the numbers cited by the Post show a significant increase in "vehicle idling" odor complaints and that's "what’s driving the overall number of 311 odor complaints up this year."
Mamelak also pointed to a 2019 initiative launched by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration that actually pays New Yorkers who submit proof of idling vehicles. The Department of Environmental Preservation issues summonses based on that evidence, she said.
Overall, Adams' administration insists that the city is getting "cleaner and cleaner" on his watch. Twice-a-week alternate side parking resumed earlier this month on certain blocks for the first time since the pandemic as part of the intensified effort.
That's just one prong in the multi-faceted strategy, Goodman said. Last month, Adams and NYC Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced more than $40 million in new funding specifically for street cleanliness. Goodman said that's the "highest level of litter basket service ever" and will allow for "vastly expanded precision cleaning in the neighborhoods of the greatest need, and restored service for vacant lots."
"This is a level of funding for cleanliness that New Yorkers have never seen before. It means litter baskets across the city are being emptied 50,000 times more per week, to use just one example," Goodman said.
The funding only kicked in on July 1 when the new fiscal year began, which means odor complaints for the first half of the year came before the new investment. Goodman says that $40 million "is already making a difference across the five boroughs."
"Every New Yorker knows that the city became noticeably dirtier during the pandemic, as behaviors changed and budgets were cut. But we’re fighting back – the 10,000 DSNY employees work every day to keep the city clean, safe, and healthy, and that’s why this administration is giving them the tools to do the work they get up every day to do," Goodman said. "New Yorkers hold our heads high, we don’t hold our noses, and DSNY is doing its part to make sure it stays that way."
