CBS New York: Sen. Daniel Squadron Wants Crackdown On Chinatown Curbside Street Ponding

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - You’ve probably stepped in a curbside street pond, but didn’t know it had a name.

Either way, New York Sate Sen. Daniel Squadron wants the city to fix them in Chinatown.

“You have an area in the road that fills with water and that standing water stays and stays. It seeps down into road bed. It creates potholes. It creates worse road conditions. It stinks,” said Squadron on Friday.

Squadron says it’s a cost for residents, businesses and tourists.

Neighborhood resident Chris Foye says it drives down the quality of life.

“Because it really is a health issue as well because we kind of see an increase in mosquito, flies, all over the community,” Foye told WCBS 880 reporter Rich Lamb.

“When people say oh, Chinatown smells. It is dirty, it is this, it is that, they do not realize that for years and years, we have asked to have this problem solved,” said resident Virginia Key.

Squadron says in dry July, his office found 93 street ponds in a ten block area of Chinatown. He says it really shouldn’t be a big deal for the city to fix the problem.

Listen to the WCBS 880 report here.