“The Broadway of the Bronx” is a drug-infested wasteland where hordes of evicted drug addicts buy drugs and shoot up guns in broad daylight, despite city officials' long-standing pledges to end the filth. , are overdosing.
The paper spent several days in “The Hub” (the commercial area surrounding Roberto Clemente Plaza, between Melrose and Mott Haven), observing scenes of drug depravity and the ever-present cloud of unpleasant smoke. I discovered it.
Two addicts were seen suffering from apparent overdoses, and dozens more were nodding off or contorting their bodies unconscious in apparent “fentanyl folds.”
One possible overdose victim lay face down on the sidewalk for 10 minutes until a fellow addict administered the life-saving drug Narcan. A few feet away, a haggard man casually injected a syringe into the woman's neck.
“This street is full of zombies,” says Emilio Morales, general manager of the three-star landmark Opera House Hotel on East 149th Street. “The situation has never been as bad as it is now.”
Morales' concerns are not new: In 2021, Morales and other local business leaders sent a letter to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio calling for action against drug trafficking, homelessness and crime using The Hub. Ta.
they are still waiting.
Frustrated local residents and elected leaders say efforts by City Hall and the NYPD to permanently crack down on open-air drug markets have failed.
“Very bad, very bad, very bad,” said Siraj Bayat, owner of Willis Discount, a local general store. “It's been like this for three years and it's getting worse and worse.”
“You can’t go through there.”
In 2018, a cadre of local leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Plaza Roberto Clemente, dedicating the plaza to herald square in the bronx.
But locals said the sunny scene of the square, and The Hub as a whole, was soon overshadowed by darkness.
“When the Plaza opened, there was jazz music and things like that playing, which was great,” said Morales, the hotel manager. “Now you can’t walk through it or sit in it.
“Drug use is open and widespread.”
By 2021, the hub had become so infested with crime and drugs that leaders of the Third Avenue Business Improvement District desperate letter Mr. de Blasio appealed to the city to “protect the lifeblood of our neighborhoods and the small businesses of our communities.”
After letters and direct interviews with management, Mr. de Blasio conducted an on-site investigation. dedicate $8 million To combat the opioid epidemic in the Bronx.
Mayor Eric Adams' administration continues its efforts to eradicate the hub, launching what City Hall calls a “comprehensive, multi-agency approach” to drug activity and related issues.
But despite a City Hall-led effort that included a targeted crackdown in October and November that cleaned up thousands of syringes, distributed overdose reversal kits and resulted in dozens of arrests. , the dire situation continues to reoccur.
The Hub continues to be on the front lines of New York City's opioid crisis. Approximately 139 people die from overdose per 100,000 residents. The infection rate in the surrounding area is more than three times the citywide rate in 2023, according to health department data.
The number of crimes in the 40th Precinct, which covers this corridor, is up nearly 4% so far this year compared to last year and is up 94% since 2010, according to NYPD data.
Much of the problem with The Hub is that Roberto Clemente Plaza itself has become a hub for New Yorkers struggling with addiction, said Pedro Suarez, executive director of the Third Avenue BID.
“It’s been difficult for us as a community to get that space back,” he said.
“Dealers are everywhere.”
The addict's deadly habit is sustained by gangs of brazen drug dealers who peddle vast quantities of drugs with impunity, shouting “methadone, methadone, methadone” in Plaza Roberto Clemente and the surrounding streets. It is being “I got Mr. K.” “Klonopin. Singles.”
Dealers also peddled a menu of other drugs, ranging from crack cocaine to synthetic marijuana.
Their illegal goods also litter the sidewalks, and every street branching off from the intersection is covered with used syringes and thousands of orange safety caps.
Used glassine bags were also found, many imprinted with drug brand names such as “Passion,” “Prada,” “La Sabrosula,” “Bugatti,” and “Hummer” and containing heroin and synthetic opioids. Contains a powerful combination. Fentanyl, xylazine and carfentanil, according to chemical testing by the outreach group St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction.
The drug trade in Plaza Roberto Clemente is also not subtle. The same dealer took the cash, rummaged through his pockets, and handed over the drugs. It was completely public.
The newspaper reported that sellers took money for pills and handed them directly into the hands of buyers, sold syringes from freshly opened boxes, and in the most discreet of hand-deliveries, removed yellow bags from shoes after handing over banknotes. I witnessed it happen.
Filth, human excrement and blasted addicts are also scattered on the ground, sometimes all at once.
Dozens of addicts were loitering under a tree in Plaza Roberto Clemente, with Narcan kits to control overdoses hanging from the branches.
The Post saw a middle-aged man wearing a Jets uniform collapse from the cold into a flowerbed, only to be revived after a friend punched him repeatedly in the chest. A few minutes later, he vomited on a flyer that read, “Prepare to meet God.”
While he lit a cigarette and smoked it, a pigeon ate the vomit that was at his feet.
“This area is full of garbage, but no one cares,” lamented Halima Akhter, manager of Shurovy Beauty Spa, near where the pigeons were feeding.
“It’s been like this ever since we opened.” [Roberto Clemente Plaza]. But the situation is getting worse. More and more people are coming here to use drugs. ”
One such addict, Edwin Gonzalez, 43, injected heroin during an interview with the Post on a rocky outcrop in St. Mary's Park.
Surrounded by bright orange syringe safety caps, Gonzalez carried 10 to 12 “John Doe” bags of heroin, a Speedball, and a daily plan to take K2 at night to help him sleep. I explained. All of these items are purchased from a dealer located at The Hub's Third Avenue subway station. .
“I shop there at least three times a week,” he said. “Dealers are everywhere.”
“I go through 10 or 12 bags (of heroin) and a Speedball a day. The reason Speedballs are $20 is because you're buying dope and coke.”
City Hall spokesman William Fowler pointed to ongoing efforts to clean up The Hub.
Mr Fowler said: “In addition to deploying additional police officers, our healthcare partners have cleaned and safely disposed of more than 7,300 syringes, engaged more than 860 people in the initiation of addiction treatment, and helped 89 We have introduced additional services.”
“We have also distributed more than 13,000 overdose-reversing naloxone kits in the surrounding Hunts Point-Mott Haven area. , we will continue to carefully address issues in this region to help connect people suffering from health care shortages to the support and services they need to recover.”
