Along the underpass where East 174th Street and the Grand Concourse intersect, illegal disposal of trash has worsened with constant littering of waste and cardboard boxes.

Sidney Flores, a community activist, has efforts to keep the underpass clean, even bringing volunteers with him as part of the initiative – but the issue has become harder to take on.

Trash such as rotten fruit and old food boxes welcomes rodents and flies, and the smell has become borderline unbearable for the members of the community to deal with.

This underpass has also been a location in which people’s car windows have been broken into. Community member Randy Villanueva is one of many who have dealt with this, having his car window smashed twice at this location in the past month.

Flores is looking to get the Sanitation Department involved on cracking down on the illegal dumping.

News 12 reached out to the Sanitation Department, which stated it plans on sending someone out to address the problem.

It also mentioned that its anti-illegal dumping initiative includes fines starting at $4,000.