Bensonhurst residents are outraged at what they say is excess trash that has drawn rodents and other animals to their neighborhood. 

"It smells, you can smell it. It's awful. It's a disgrace,” a resident tells News 12. 

They say the overflowing garbage cans and trash spread along Bay Parkway and 86th Street have them frustrated. 

"It's like a third-world country over here. It's disgusting,” a resident tells News 12. 

They say the piles of trash have been scattered around the streets since the pandemic started.

"My older son saw rats running around Bay Parkway, I thought it was the middle of the night, it was 6:30 in the evening,” a resident tells News 12. 

Now, they’re joining Assembly member William Colton in demanding cleaner streets from the city. 

"You expect to have a pickup of garbage. It's not being done right now because of the mismanagement of the city policies,” said Colton. 

The Assembly member says some of the garbage comes from people visiting nearby restaurants, but he says an overflow like this could be avoided if trash pickups by the city were done more often.

"They can't sit in the restaurant right now, so what they'll do instead is they'll take out or they will eat outside, and then they'll walk on 86th Street with the cup, and when they're finished with it, they need a garbage pile to be able to put those cups and that food in,” said Colton. 

Colton says he’s not looking to implement a new program and is asking residents to be volunteer block watchers and notify his office when they see overflowing trash cans. 

He says he’ll then call the Department of Sanitation in hopes of them coming out to fix the situation. 

News 12 reached out to the Department of Sanitation for comment and they responded saying, " Litter baskets are for light pedestrian items – the empty coffee cup or candy bar wrapper – not household or business trash. When household or business material is put in or by the corner litter basket, they can easily and quickly fill up. Photo 1988 clearly shows bags of material – and even children’s toys in those bags! Not pedestrian litter! Residents need to follow their normal collection schedule – putting material at the curb on the right day, at the right time, and using the right containers. Even after a holiday, we will collect their material! Businesses must hire private carters for their waste."