Quantcast

Ridgites still live in smell hell

Bay Ridge residents are sick of a foul smell that has plagued the neighborhood for years — and they’re still making a big stink about it.

Even though the city spent $6.9 million in 2006 to connect sewer lines along Fort Hamilton Parkway between Marine Avenue and 99th Street, a vile reek has wafted from the grates.

And despite repeated promises from officials — and stench-crushing nylon socks stuffed with pine-scented deodorizer that city workers dropped in the sewers — the sordid aroma hasn’t gotten any better.

“If you walk by, you’ll gag — that’s how bad it is,” said Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann.

Neighbors say the stink is so bad — some liken it to the smell of death itself — that it permeates the walls of their homes.

“It’s just horrible. I can smell it with my windows shut — it just comes right through,” said Phyllis Lomabardo, who is planning to move out of her longtime Fort Hamilton Parkway house because of the odor.

Spokespeople from the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Design and Construction said that the agencies are committed to stopping the stench and that they plan to continue to investigate its cause.

But residents say those claims are just hot smelly air.

“They keep on sending people to fix it, but nothing seems to be happening,” said Fort Hamilton Parkway resident Camille Graves. “I don’t care what they find — I just hope it goes away.”