Midtown coalition in NYC unable to reduce sleaze and menace
Dear Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg:
A Bronx cheer to your newly formed “Midtown Community Improvement Coalition,” as the squeegee men have returned to the corner of Ninth Avenue and West 40th Street.
The squeegee men, a source of trouble during the Ed Koch and David Dinkins years, are once again hassling motorists near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in broad daylight. They were spotted at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, puffing on acrid-smelling weed.
All it would take to get rid of them is one NYPD officer willing to enforce laws against aggressive panhandling.
Instead of addressing this immediate problem, Adams and Bragg have introduced a “coalition” to address quality of life and public safety in the West 30s and 40s. This coalition involves 20 city agencies and community partners, although their history of cooperation is questionable.
The focus area of the coalition covers an area where crime rates have been rising steadily since 2023. The situation is only worsening, with issues like vagrancy, drug use, and shoplifting becoming more prevalent.
Despite efforts by some public servants, the current problems in the West 30s and 40s won’t be easily resolved. What’s needed is a crackdown on these issues, but that seems unlikely in today’s political climate.
City Hall is focusing on connecting individuals to services like housing and medical care, rather than addressing the root causes of the problems in the area.
In essence, the city is treating the perpetrators of the area’s problems as victims, while neglecting the safety and well-being of residents and workers in the area.
