On the Upper East Side, people hate illegal parking. But in the Upper West Side, people really can’t stand a lot of noise. The Real Deal took a look at some of the top complaints New Yorkers logged over the past 12 months with 311 — the city’s non-emergency service line.
For the most part, the boroughs that made the most calls were the ones with the biggest populations. But for each borough, the calls equate to about one for every three residents. While the same top complaints reared their heads over and over, there were one or two outliers. Click on our interactive map for a breakdown of what exactly makes people in your neighborhood tick.
BROOKLYN
Brooklyners made the most calls as of late — perhaps not much of a surprise for the most populous borough in the Big Apple. Over the past 12 months, Brooklyn was home to 862,444 calls to 311, with over 67,000 of those calls related to heat and hot water complaints. The Brooklyn neighborhood with the most calls? Crown Heights, which also takes the cake for the most complaints in the city, with a whopping 37,274 calls, with heat and hot water, again, the top complaint. For the rest of the borough, illegal parking, noise, requests to collect large, bulky items and blocked driveways rounded out the top five reasons for calling the city hotline.
QUEENS
Queens locals made the second-most amount of calls, with 662,728 complaints lodged with 311. The biggest reason for calling in that borough was bulky item collection, with 65,939 calls, a complaint that topped the charts in Ridgewood, the Queens neighborhood with the most complaints, and the eastern and southern parts of the borough. Illegal parking came in second place, followed by blocked driveway, noise and heat and hot water issues.
MANHATTAN
In Manhattan, it’s all about the noise. While most of the calls — roughly 49,000 of the 515,412 made over the past 12 months — were for heat and hot water problems, three of the top five complaints throughout the borough related in some way to noise, making up more than a fifth of all calls in Manhattan.
BRONX
In the Bronx, there were just over 485,000 calls over the past year. The usual suspects make the Bronx’s residents blood boil — heat and hot water issues, noise and blocked driveways — but the borough’s top five list has a new entrant: unsanitary conditions.
STATEN ISLAND
With the least amount of 311 calls in the city, Staten Islanders recorded just 147,807 complaints over the previous 12 months. Requests to pick up bulky items and electronics waste, plus complaints about missed collections in general, were the top reasons for residents to pick up the phone, accounting for over a fifth of the calls. The borough’s other top calls stem from illegal parking and complaints over street conditions.