New York City Congressman Ritchie Torres is blasting Governor Kathy Hochul for her “passive” attitude toward an insidious open-air drug market raging in the South Bronx.
A post-exposé found that the area known as “The Hub” — a commercial zone between Melrose and Mott Haven Avenues that includes Roberto Clemente Plaza — has become a junkie wasteland, despite city officials’ years-long promise to create a to put an end to the incessant misery.
Torres, who is eyeing a gubernatorial candidate, wrote in a strongly worded letter to Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams that in addition to changing its lax bail and strict evidence discovery laws, the state should give Hizzoner more authority to place persons with serious injuries. mental illness and chemical addictions to involuntary care – whether this takes the form of inpatient care or outpatient assisted treatment (OAT).
“The Governor would never tolerate an open-air drug market outside the Governor’s Mansion,” the Democratic Bronx Police Department said in the missive.
“The state’s do-nothing approach and the city’s ad hoc approach have led to a game of whack-a-mole in which the NYPD temporarily removes the open-air drug market, only to see it reemerge virtually overnight .”
Torres questioned why residents are “forced to watch drug addicts inject themselves with fentanyl in front of their children – all in broad daylight” and demanded that New Yorkers living in the area “be afforded the same standard of public safety and quality of life get it like everyone else.”
Attempts by City Hall and the NYPD to permanently crack down on the open-air drug market have been unsuccessful over the years.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio $8 million spent to combat the opioid epidemic in The Bronx, and after taking office, Adams continued efforts to clean up “The Hub,” implementing what City Hall called a “comprehensive, multi-agency approach” to drug activity and related problems there launched.
But even as City Hall-led efforts — including an enforcement sweep from October to November — have cleared thousands of syringes, distributed overdose reversal kits and led to dozens of arrests, the dire conditions persist.
“What the Bronx needs is not a short-term Band-Aid, but a long-term solution to the crisis in the Hub,” Torres wrote. “What we deserve and demand is not a temporary relocation of the drug users and dealers, but a permanent removal of the open-air drug market itself, which has become a deeper rot in the commercial core of the South Bronx.”
The Bronx representative pointed to rising recidivism as part of the problem.
“Criminals feel more emboldened than ever to use and sell drugs in public, confident that the criminal justice system will never hold them accountable and return them to the streets,” Torres said.
“The repeat offenders know the rules of the game and know how to game the broken system to break the rules.”
Hochul spokesperson Avi Small fired back in a statement to The Post: “We are not taking public safety advice from a politician who supported $1 billion in funding for the NYPD and voted to decriminalize public urination.
“Governor Hochul is committed to public safety and has fought to change bail laws to give judges more discretion and crack down on repeat offenders, and will introduce legislation this year to resolve involuntary commitment.”
Torres’ call to action comes just over a week after Hochul promised to make it easier to involuntarily commit and treat dangerous mentally ill New Yorkers in the wake of a wave of violent subway crime — though details of the plan are vague.
The government said it would finally tighten “involuntary commitment standards,” as well as a bill related to Kendra’s Law, “which would improve the process by which a court can order certain individuals to participate in assisted outpatient treatment, while also making it easier for individuals to voluntarily sign up for this treatment.”
Last week, Adams pledged during his State of the City address to help mentally ill and homeless New Yorkers as a priority.
Part of his solution is an ambitious five-year proposal — which will include a new facility to house and treat mentally ill New Yorkers — and calls again for the governor to expand the city’s powers to help mentally ill New Yorkers removed from public space.
Adams’ camp did not respond to a mail request for comment on Torres’ letter.
