NYC residents sue over smelly sewage plants

Residents of a polluted neighborhood sued the city and a waste recycling company Wednesday, saying that putrid odors emanating from two nearby sewage facilities are ruining their lives.

(Newsday) -- Residents in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx complain that the stench from the plants infiltrates homes and schools, keeping families from enjoying their yards or even hanging clothes out to dry. At a local school, students don't go out to play when the odor hits. "It smells like someone is passing gas in the house all the time or someone is going to the bathroom," said Chrystal Francis, a 44-year-old hospital administrative assistant and mother of three who lives five blocks from plants. "Nobody has done anything, nobody listens to us. They don't care about the South Bronx because we're just working-class people." The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court, is focused on two plants in the neighborhood. One is a city-run sewage facility that takes in the waste of about 600,000 New Yorkers. The other is the privately run New York Organic Fertilizer Co., which transforms city sewage into fertilizer pellets.