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A New York City councilman has declared a humanitarian crisis on Manhattan's West Side, painting a grim picture of streets lined with drug-abusing, mentally ill homeless people in a letter addressed to Mayor Eric Adams.
Councilman Erik Bottcher, who represents Manhattan's third district, pleaded with Adams for "immediate assistance in addressing the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the streets and subways of New York City" in a letter dated July 18, 2024.
Bottcher highlighted several areas, including parts of Times Square, the Garment District and Washington State Park as being "particularly dire."
This past Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, at midday, a man slept on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, just one block from Times Square, his face covered by an SEIU Local 1199 sign demanding "prime pay!" for workers. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
"In these areas and others, significant numbers of individuals are engaging in a range of illegal and antisocial activities that are causing significant distress and fear among constituents, many of whom are seniors or families with young children," he wrote.
The New York Post dispatched reporters to the area following Bottcher's letter. The reporters detailed multiple "unstable, strung-out homeless weirdos" when visiting over the past two weeks. The outlet said needles are regularly seen on the street, highlighting "one dead-eyed junkie wandering with a needle sticking out of his hand along 36th Street near bustling Penn Station." Seemingly mentally-ill people lay conked out on benches and pavement, or shuffle through the streets, oftentimes barefoot, taunting tourists and locals.
A security guard working in the area, identified only as Fisher by the Post, told the reporters he sees people using drugs "all day and all night" in the public courtyard at the Midtown Holiday Inn hotel. Public urination and defecation are the norm, he said.
"It’s crazy out here," Fisher told the Post. "They even have sex out here on the benches. They pee and defecate here."
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 30: A homeless man sits at Times Square on November 30, 2022 in New York City. New York City Mayor Eric Adams rolled out a plan to allow mentally ill homeless people to be hospitalized against their will. (Photo by Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress)
Employees at the Midtown Holiday Inn have reportedly begun turning on the sprinklers in hopes of keeping derelicts away, according to the Post.
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"But some homeless people are turning it into a shower experience — even using soap, as one hotel guest complained in an online review," the outlet wrote.
Others come into the hotel "cursing us out," Rocky Caban, 45, the hotel’s front desk supervisor, told the Post. "They try to hit us and everything. We got the guard outside to try to stop them from coming inside," he said.
"Everyday we gotta go through this. I see the same people every day. I see them get picked up and go in an ambulance and the next day they’re back outside," Caban added.
A homeless man partially blocks a subway stairway in New York City on Sept. 10, 2022. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
New York City-based PIX11 reported similar findings when visiting the area last week.
"Within the first 10 minutes of being on West 30th Street, a PIX11 News crew spotted a man removed by EMS off the sidewalk, another exposing himself, and a third suffering from an apparent mental episode," they wrote.
Bottcher called it a "heartbreaking reality."
"This… not only causes immense suffering for these individuals but also has an increasing negative impact on residents and business as we enter the middle of summer," he wrote in the letter.
He said the NYPD is "stretched thin" responding to calls in the area about "open narcotics sales and use, property destruction, physical and verbal intimidation, shoplifting and other illegal activity."
He urged Adams to expand his controversial B-HEARD program to Manhattan's West Side. The program, launched in 2021, seeks to connect people suffering from mental health issues with professionals and is already operational in 31 precincts across New York City, PIX11 reported. The program sends paramedics, social workers and other unarmed first responders to answer certain 911 calls instead of NYPD officers.
Mayor Eric Adams attends a press conference as a NYPD officer says he was the ringleader of a campaign donation scheme to help the New York City mayor. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)
Adams reportedly pledged to expand the program across the city last year, but the plan has been stalled, according to the outlet.
"Manhattan's West Side is in need of this program now," Bottcher wrote.
He also urged Adam to support legislation he introduced that would require the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to put licensed social workers in NYPD precincts citywide.
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Our neighborhoods need help right now," he wrote. "The status quo cannot be allowed to continue.
When reached for comment, a City Hall spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "As Mayor Adams has repeatedly pointed out, there are too many people on Rikers Island who suffer from severe mental illness. That’s why this administration has invested in evidenced-based approaches to stop waiting until people commit a crime before providing them with the services they need."
"As a result, we’re engaging with people suffering from severe mental illness, substance use disorder, and unsheltered homelessness where they’re at — in our parks, on our subways, and on street corners — while keeping our neighborhoods safe. In the last six months, our outreach efforts in the West Village and Washington Square Park alone have helped dozens of New Yorkers move from the streets into transitional housing," the spokesperson added."There is more work to be done to help people accept services and keep our neighborhoods and public spaces safe, so we appreciate the councilmember bringing attention to this important topic."
The article was updated to include comment from Mayor Adam's office.
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