New Yorkers Hope End Is Near For Mounds Of Filthy Snow

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The weather is finally warming up, but New York's sidewalks and streets are still covered with the remnants of the long, messy winter.

New Yorkers told CBS2's Elise Finch they are hoping the melting will lead to the cleaning of the mounds of dirty, garbage-covered snow and ice throughout the city.

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"It's very disgusting," said Mustafa Drake, of Harlem. "It's feces and everything all in the snow."

"It's really terrible," added Nikki Stiller, of the Upper West Side. "It's very unsightly."

"It's now filled with like cups and plastic bottles and cigarette butts," said Julia Fueglein, of the Upper West Side.

"It is kind of gross. You kind of have to watch where you walk," said West Harlem resident Darrin French. "I know I've been doing that a lot today."

Some people said the problem is twofold: Landlords didn't shovel sidewalks as well as they could have, and the city hasn't cleaned the streets as thoroughly as it should have.

"I believe it's the selfishness of the landlords that they don't shovel away the snow that isn't exactly on their property," said Stiller.

"If they just snow plowed it when they had a chance. They had a couple of days to clean it and they didn't," said Kristin Freda, who works on the Upper West Side.

"I've seen them pick up the trash. On Saturday, they picked up the trash. But I really haven't seen the street sweeper," said Deborah Bass, of the Upper West Side.

Others said drivers didn't do their part to allow the city to clean effectively.

"It's hard to clean up if there are cars in the way," said Martin Green, another Upper West Side resident. "I put my car away for the month. I decided I wasn't going to deal with this stuff.

"I would like to see a lot of this melt, and then the sanitation department can pick it up and remove it," he added.

The city's Department of Sanitation said its crews have been cleaning and will continue Tuesday with street sweeping and snow removal.

And in the midst of the filth, some people praised the city's snow removal efforts.

"Well I think they really have a lot of snow to clear off," said Minou.

Others expressed optimism about seeing improvement quickly now that the weather is helping instead of hindering.

"By the end of the week one would hope that, and if the temperatures stay the same, that this is all gone," Bass said.

"Because then people can get to the trash that's frozen in all the ice," said Brittany Hillyer, of Harlem.

And the melting snow is revealing more than just garbage.

"See how in some places the have those dog signs? Well, yea people need to do that," said Reggie.

Tony told 1010 WINS' Al Jones he'd like to see more compliance and enforcement of the city's clean up after your dog ordinance.

"I walk around with tissues in my pocket and a plastic bag in my knapsack," he said. "And I pick up after my dog, but I think I'm probably like one of 30 percent who do and 70 percent just leave it for us to clean up."

Residents are also hoping the rain in the forecast will help wash away the dirt and grime for good.