Midtown Residents Hate Their Sidewalks, New Survey Shows

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Residents of Midtown and Hell's Kitchen say their sidewalks are badly maintained, filthy and plagued by puddles and snowfall, according to a new survey by a neighborhood community board.

The survey was launched in February by Community Board 4 and the street-safety group CHEKPEDS, which announced the results on Sunday.

All told, nearly 1,000 people responded, including more than 80 percent from in and around CB4, which covers Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, Hudson Yards and parts of Midtown.

Among the findings: nearly half of those surveyed from within CB4 rated their neighborhood's sidewalks as poor or very poor, while 59 percent said the city does a poor or very poor job of maintaining them.

The most common problems that residents said they encountered often included dirty sidewalks (79 percent), "ponding" at street corners (78 percent), general obstructions (63 percent) and damaged ramps (63 percent).

"Hells Kitchen has become a disgrace when it comes to trash and filth on the sidewalks," wrote one respondent.

"The street has piles of garbage on a daily basis and the garbage bins in front of the building are always overflowing," wrote another. "Despite numerous 311 calls nothing has been done to rectify the situation.”

Responding to the survey's findings, CB4 sent a letter on Thursday to Council Speaker Corey Johnson and deputy mayor Laura Anglin, asking the city to review how the Sanitation and transportation departments handle sidewalk repairs.

"It seems that the partitions of sidewalk maintenance responsibilities do not serve the public interest," the board wrote. "In our recent survey, our residents expressed a high level of dissatisfaction with the overall level of service they receive."

The survey responses also generated a map showing problematic spots reported by respondents. Unrepaired damage, congestion and garbage all plague the avenues that run through Hell's Kitchen, as well as crosstown thoroughfares like 42nd Street, the map shows.

Snow-clearing was another focus of the survey, with nearly two-thirds of respondents saying the city does a poor job clearing snow from sidewalks. Survey organizers repeated a complaint raised in other neighborhoods during the winter: that the city policy of leaving snow-shoveling to private property owners was inadequate.

"Four days after the snow, my local bus stop was still not accessible or cleared of any snow," wrote one resident.

About 10 percent of those who took the survey have disabilities, organizers said. Unsurprisingly, they consistently rated sidewalk conditions even worse than their able-bodied neighbors.

Previous coverage: Midtown Board Wants To Hear About Your Sidewalks