"For the past week, I've measured my life in frozen turds. Three-block walk to the subway? Ten turds. A trip to Whole Foods?That's a 30-turd journey. Crossing the street to buy milk at the bodega? That's five lovely clumps of shit that I have lovingly named "Getme," "thefuck," "outta," "here," and "ASAP.""
"Ever since the city was blanketed with a foot of snow and ice that only now is beginning to melt, dog shit has been everywhere-on our , in our darkest thoughts, and smeared across our shoes. As of February 14, there have been 455 complaints filed to 311 about dog owners refusing to pick up their pooches' crap, compared to only 284 complaints over the same time period in 2025. Most of the complaints are coming from around Washington Heights, Sunset Park, and Flatbush."
""The dog shit is a symbol of how 0this whole neighborhood is a fucking disaster," Anna, 46, told me while walking her scruffy Benji-looking dog by Bed-Stuy's Herbert Von King Park on Friday (who, like many people interviewed for this story, asked me not to publish her last name so she could speak freely about her neighbors). "There's no social contract in this neighborhood. 0I just think there are too many different priorities for neighbors, and they don't see each other as in this together," she added."
Residents counted frozen dog droppings encountered on short trips as snow and ice began to melt, turning sidewalks into contaminated pathways. Frozen dog feces has been visible on shoes and public spaces across several neighborhoods. As of February 14, 455 complaints about owners refusing to pick up after dogs were filed to 311, up from 284 during the same period in 2025. Complaint hotspots include Washington Heights, Sunset Park, and Flatbush. Instances of neighbors helping each other coexist with frequent examples of owners neglecting cleanup. Some residents described the problem as a symptom of eroded social responsibility and competing neighborhood priorities.
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