On Wednesday, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., expressed grave concerns about an “open-air drug market” in a business district in the Bronx, where both addicts and prostitutes are frequently observed. He criticized New York City for being a “bystander” to the chaos.
For at least the past year, Torres has been trying to raise awareness of drug use and drug trafficking at The Hub in the South Bronx.
“Despite my repeated pleas and multiple announcements of multi-agency operations—often launched with great fanfare—the City is no closer to solving the public health and safety crisis that has taken hold of the South Bronx’s Hub,” Torres wrote in a Wednesday letter to Mayor Eric Adams.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, delivers remarks during a hearing by the House Financial Services Committee examining the FTX collapse in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The Department of Transportation has effectively lost control of Roberto Clemente Plaza, which has become a nightmare for quality of life, public health and public safety – delivering no benefit to residents,” Torres said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office.
“The Adams administration agrees that the decades-long issues plaguing ‘The Hub’ in the Bronx are unacceptable, which is why we brought our ‘Community Link’ model to the neighborhood — a multi-agency operation of surged resources to address substance abuse, mental health, homeless outreach, sanitation, and other quality-of-life issues that prevent this part of the South Bronx from reaching its full potential,” an Adams spokesperson told the New York Post.
The business district has been plagued with quality of life issues for some time. In 2021, business leaders sent then-Mayor Bill de Blasio a letter demanding he do more to address rising crime in the area.
