NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres joined South Bronx residents and business owners on Wednesday, calling on the city to do more to deal with an “open-air drug market” at The Hub commercial corridor, months after he first sounded the alarm.
Torres said the area around Roberto Clemente Plaza has become an epicenter for open-air drug use, homelessness and gang violence, and that store owners are losing business.
“The City of New York has essentially lost control of a central commercial corridor,” the congressman said.
Torres said the Bronx deservers what every borough gets—city services and a coordinated, effective plan to address quality of life concerns.
The congressman previously alerted to the issue in January, writing Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to warn "the open-air drug market that has seen a resurgence in the Hub of the South Bronx."
“We are calling on the mayor to definitely crack down, end the open-air drug market in the South Bronx and connect people to the care they urgently need,” the rep said as he returned to the plaza on Wednesday.
One business owner said people inject drugs outside his shop, while a longtime resident said she goes out of her way to avoid the area.
The Third Avenue Business Improvement District is planning a street festival on Saturday to encourage clean-up and show support for people and businesses in the area.
Pedro Suarez, the executive director of the Third Avenue BID, said conditions are intolerable.
“We’ve been at events where we’re having literally a LEGO table for kids to play with and there are people overdosing, falling to the ground around them,” Suarez said.
Mayor Eric Adams’ press secretary, Kayla Mamelak Altus, said in a statement: “The Adams administration agrees that the decades-long issues plaguing ‘The Hub’ in the Bronx are unacceptable, which is why we brought our ‘Community Link’ model to the neighborhood — a multi-agency operation of surged resources to address substance abuse, mental health, homeless outreach, sanitation, and other quality-of-life issues that prevent this part of the South Bronx from reaching its full potential.”
“We have responded to thousands of complaints, issued more than 3,600 summonses, placed dozens of homeless individuals in shelter, removed more than 730 syringes from our streets, made more than 1,000 arrests, and much more,” Altus said. “But let’s be clear: this work is not done — our priority is to ensure safety. Progress is measured, but feeling safe is what truly matters. We will continue working until every individual feels safe and secure.”