Dozens Of Abandoned Cars Cover Hell's Kitchen Streets: 311 Data

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — More complaints about cars abandoned on the streets of Hell's Kitchen have poured in during the first nine months of this year than in all of 2020 or 2019, data shows.

Residents have reported 97 abandoned vehicles to 311 since the start of this year within the ZIP codes 10018, 10019 and 10036, according to city data. (In addition to Hell's Kitchen, those ZIP codes cover some blocks of central Midtown).

That's dozens more calls than the 68 that were made last year, and triple the 30 complaints made in pre-pandemic 2019 — before the coronavirus emptied New York City's roadways and relaxed alternate side parking rules.

And Hell's Kitchen is not alone. Across the city, the number of abandoned vehicle complaints has already risen by nearly 4 percent this year, to 34,979 overall, with three months remaining in 2021.

The trend has been reported in neighborhoods around the five boroughs, like Astoria, Queens, where neighbors tried for months to persuade the NYPD to tow an empty car that obstructed an Open Street, finally getting it moved last week.

Maps show the abandoned cars are littered across Hell's Kitchen. Click through the map below to explore each complaint.

The complaints appear concentrated on the neighborhood's side streets, like West 44th Street (21 complaints), and West 36th Street (eight complaints). They span the length of the neighborhood, from Columbus Circle down to the Javits Center.

Despite the volume of the complaints, the vast majority — about 91 percent — went unaddressed by authorities. In just nine cases, the NYPD said it issued a summons in response to the abandoned vehicle complaints.

Patch reporter Kayla Levy contributed.