Calls grow to shut down ‘open air drug market’ in Bronx business district

By Anthony Carlo

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    MOTT HAVEN, the Bronx, New York (WABC) — Officials are sounding the alarm to shut down what they say is an “open air drug market” in a business district of the South Bronx.

Congressman Ritchie Torres said he has been trying to raise awareness for a year and claims open drug use and trafficking is driving people away and hurting businesses. He says the city has failed to find a solution to the problem.

Roberto Clemente Plaza is in the middle of what is supposed to be the South Bronx’s thriving commercial district. However, it is anything but that.

Torres said there is a commercial vacancy rate of 15% in the area.

On Wednesday, Eyewitness News witnessed ambulances carting someone away, drug dealers making sales, and people barely conscious on a hot summer day.

It’s not a new problem. That is why Torres came out Wednesday to prove that one year after he spoke out about the issue, nothing has changed.

In fact, some would say it has only gotten worse. But the people who are suffering the most are not the politicians, they are the residents who live and do business there.

Some fear they can’t afford to stay open much longer because foot traffic is way down.

“Families don’t want to come here to shop, especially at a butcher shop like this that has been here since 1984…people just don’t want to walk here, there’s no parking, no foot traffic,” business owner Luis Tirado said.

Tirado said he attributes a decline in business directly to the open drug use and empty spaces.

“The Hub has effectively fallen into the hands of drug dealers, the city of New York is effectively a bystander, while an open air drug market is flourishing right in the commercial heart of the South Bronx and the conditions speak for themselves,” Torres said.

The police showed up later Wednesday, but it was made clear they are dealing with a complex problem in an area saturated with rehab centers.

“We need to get these individuals help that they need, we made over 3,000 summonses issued over here, multiple arrests over here, but this is not something we want to arrest our way out of,” said Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry.

Daughtry and Deputy Mayor for Administration Camille Joseph Varlack were not happy with what they saw, but reaffirmed that the city is committed to improving quality of life in a neighborhood into which the city has already surged resources.

“When you see this needs more care and attention – you figure out what those resources are and we bring them here, and so that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” Varlack said.

People who have always lived near the drug infestation said they will believe it when they see it.

“We’re trying to enhance the community but how can you do that when it’s ignored?” one neighbor said.

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