Manhattan, NY – Wow, Washington Heights can whine.
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The upper Manhattan neighborhood logged the most complaints to 311 since the program started tracking them in 2005, data obtained by the Daily News shows.
“I’ve called them and so has everyone in my building,” Reina Martin, 37, boasts when told of her neighborhood’s nearly half a million gripes to the all-purpose hotline.
The mother of three estimates she’s called 15 times to complain about her building’s lack of heat and water, broken walls and bedbugs.
Heating is the top problem in the neighborhood, followed by loud noise and trouble with construction.
Some old-timers blame gentrification, saying the newcomers are shocked by the salsa music blaring at night and the constant hum of truck traffic – and they aren’t shy about calling the city.
“I work nights but if I was trying to sleep it would be horrible,” said 48-year-old singer Maria Gentile, adding if you are looking for silent streets, “this is not the neighborhood for you.”
The neighborhoods counting the most complaints had something in common: Nearly all were crowded, low-income areas dominated by African-Americans and Hispanics.
Other frequent callers hailed from Jamaica and Flushing, Queens, Bedford Stuyvesant, Flatbush and East New York, Brooklyn, and St. George, Staten Island.
“Those are neighborhoods where there are tons of quality-of-life and health and environmental issues that are pretty underaddressed by city agencies,” said Joan Byron, director of the Pratt Center for Community Development in Manhattan. “The data validates what people in those neighborhoods are saying, which is they are on the receiving end of really problematic stuff.”
Yvonne Reddrick, district manager of Community Board 12 in Jamaica, wasn’t surprised to hear about her neighbors’ constant calls. “Our community is extremely diverse and the population has increased. With the increase in population, we are not getting any increase in city services,” she said, ticking off transit and sewer woes as big problems for residents.
For the last six years, 311 has fielded more than 15.9 million complaints – and heating is the number one city beef.
Other popular cries are for loud music, potholes and broken streetlights.
The neighborhoods with the fewest gripes are the Hunts Point section of the Bronx and Coney Island, Brooklyn, which total about 110,000 calls each
no one is talking. everyone busy calling 311.
Washington Heights.yes and some ladies who live there call it the bronx.what a laugh.
They forgot to mention the alte yekkes calling to complain that the bus is late!
washington heights has some of the oldest apartment buildings in the city. Things in these buildings, like elevators, are more likely to not function. Hence, an area high in 311 calls.
no one is talking. everyone busy calling 311.