NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Parents in Queens are fuming over what they say is a brothel that operates at all hours of the day near two elementary schools.
Last week, the NYPD raided a brothel near the 90th Street Triangle in Jackson Heights, hours after WINS reported on a push by locals to shut it down.
Now, just blocks from that raid, parents are in an uproar over an alleged brothel at 99th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Corona.
According to concerned families, the brothel is operating near two public schools, P.S. 19 Marino Jeantet and Pioneer Academy P.S. 307 Queens.
“It’s ridiculous that these young adults can’t even walk anywhere without getting openly solicitated,” grandparent Nelly Rodriguez said. “Whether it be drugs, whether it be the open dispensaries, whether it be the [gang] initiations—but the prostitution, that’s the worst of all.”
“We need this particular brothel to be shut down,” said Hiram Monserrate, a community leader and former City Council member who declared last week that there are "more brothels than bodegas" in the area.
“It’s literally across the street from two elementary schools,” Monserrate said. “Parents who live across the street from the school have to walk their kids back and forth, because it’s not safe.”
After previous complaints failed to spark action, residents plan to take up a resolution to the city during a public meeting of Community Education Council 24 on Tuesday night.
In addition to shutting down the brothel, residents want “increased and sustained police presence coupled with a multi-pronged [and] multi-agency response led by the NYPD,” according to a press release.
They said they also want more participation from leaders in the community and more counselors for children in the area.
“How do you go home to explain to your kids why women are walking around like that?” Rodriguez said.
The press release says quality-of-life issues have been plaguing Roosevelt Avenue, with residents facing “drug rings, human traffickers, pimps, prostitutes, shoplifting syndicates, illegal marijuana shops, street gangs, homeless vagrants and hundreds upon hundreds of unlicensed vendors, trash everywhere with no resolution in sight.”
“Roosevelt Avenue now is terrifying,” parent Ileana Martinez said. “Hopefully, someone will respond to the [Community Education Council] resolution.”