Crime and prostitution on the rise on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, New York City
Residents are complaining that, months after The New York Post first reported on the situation, the police are doing nothing to stop it, leading to a rise in crime in their neighborhood.
Screenshot of Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, one of the most crime-ridden streets in New York
In New York, crime continues to rise. One place that is especially suffering is the Roosevelt Avenue area near 91st Street in Queens, where citizens have seen the number of prostitutes and crimes double in recent months.
It all started in April of this year. At that time, The New York Post uncovered that there was more crime and prostitution on that street than in the rest of New York and that residents, fed up with the situation, were trying to get the police to intervene and protect their businesses.
But that has not been the case. Five months later, the situation continues to be untenable, and locals claim that crime has not only increased, but also worsened, with criminals directly threatening business owners for alerting authorities. This is what the manager of the Bravo supermarket on Roosevelt Avenue, Jesús Díaz, explained to The New York Post.
"Now, they’re getting angry. They’re trying to punch you, telling you, 'You’re going to have a problem,' telling you, 'We’re coming back and you’re going to have some real trouble.'"
The worst part, they claim, is that the police don't seem to respond to their calls for help. "You call and tell the cops that you caught them stealing and that you’re holding them waiting for them and the cops, they don’t even want to come, they don’t want to arrest these people," the clerk assured.
Prostitution is also booming on Roosevelt Avenue. As detailed to The New York Post by a jewelry store owner, who decided to remain anonymous, she sees more and more women offering their services and preventing her from running her business.
"Too many beautiful ladies standing outside my door. I just asked them not to stand directly in front and block the door. What can I do?"
Again, the police do nothing. That's despite the fact that, as the jewelry store owner explained, everyone knows about the existence of several brothels near where her business is located: "There is the brothel across the street and then the brothel behind us here. Everyone knows," she said while, like another vendor, she continued to lament the situation on Roosevelt Avenue and 91st Street in Queens where drugs, prostitution, alcohol and crime are rampant.
LATEST
