STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are allegedly suffering physical symptoms from the pervading stench rattling their Travis neighborhood.
According to Janet Nigro, her 45-year-old daughter and her granddaughter live in an apartment in the area of a city Department of Sanitation composting facility.
Nigro told the Advance/SILive.com that her family “had to leave their home and live elsewhere because the smell has permeated into their second-floor apartment, and this is with all the windows closed.”
“This has thrown havoc into my daughter’s work schedule and my granddaughter’s school attendance,” Nigro explained. “Not only has this been a massive inconvenience for them both, but physically it has resulted in nausea, dizziness and massive headaches.”
The smell has plagued Travis for more than a year now, with the state Department of Environmental Conservation ultimately concluding “that this facility is the most likely source of this foul odor that has been permeating the area on a recurring basis for the last year or so,” according to a December written statement issued by Councilmember David Carr.
Upon learning about the plight of Nigro’s daughter and granddaughter, Carr said, “Make no mistake, I’m fighting until this obnoxious smell is gone for good. DSNY will not hear the end of it until the community is satisfied. That I can guarantee. The Department of Environmental Conservation was clear that the source was a DSNY composting facility, and I will not stop applying pressure until the agency addresses this. The fact that DSNY would let this go unaddressed to the point where residents feel it’s better to move out is completely unacceptable.”
Part of the Department of Sanitation’s Staten Island compost facility.(Advance/SILive.com|Paul Liotta)
Upon reaching out to the DSNY, a spokesperson confirmed that a “formal investigation is ongoing.”
DSNY confirmed in December that the department is looking to curb the foul smells by using the following tactics: a scented mist at DSNY operations; a special covered composting system; turning compost at 5 a.m.; and regular odor assessments in neighborhoods surrounding the facility.