Adams and Moya visit Roosevelt Avenue. Photo: Office of Council Member Francisco Moya
Jan. 16, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Mayor Eric Adams and Council Member Francisco Moya announced that Operation Restore Roosevelt, a 90-day multi-agency operation aiming to address urgent public safety and quality-of-life concerns on Roosevelt Avenue, will now continue indefinitely with no set end date.
Adams and Moya, who launched Operation Restore Roosevelt on Oct. 15, visited the avenue on Friday Oct. 10, three days before the original plan was due to end, to observe the positive progress of the policing plan over the past three months.
The plan, which aims to revitalize the Avenue by clamping down on prostitution, illegal brothels, unlicensed vendors and food carts, retail theft and the sale of stolen goods and other quality-of-life issues, has transformed the thoroughfare over the past 90 days, according to Adams and Moya, who joined business owners and community leaders on Friday to celebrate the impact of the policing plan.
Adams and Moya said the improvements have reduced crime in the area while also boosting local business and creating an atmosphere of hope and optimism.
In a statement, Moya said the operation has not only improved safety along Roosevelt Avenue but said the multi-agency plan had also restored a sense of pride in the local community.
Photo: Office of Council Member Francisco Moya
“The improvements along Roosevelt Avenue are significant, but we cannot stop here. We must continue to push forward, building on this progress and ensuring that we restore and enhance the quality of life for everyone along Roosevelt Avenue,” Moya said in a statement.
The Adams administration noted that the operation has resulted in the closure of a dozen illegal brothels and sex shops, further stating that the NYPD’s Human Trafficking Squad has offered support to over 100 individuals as part of the plan.
The city has also issued 6,700 summonses for health, sanitation, fire, building, and other code violations over the past 90 days as well as conducting extensive outreach to over 180 businesses in the area and engaging more than 80 people experiencing homelessness, a spokesperson for the Mayor said.
“This work is noticeably improving life in the neighborhood — so much so that community groups have publicly called for us to extend the operation — while offering vital services to vulnerable populations in hopes of improving their lives,” Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said in a statement last week prior to the indefinite extension of the operation.
Not everyone has supported the plan, however. Last week, State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who is challenging Adams in the upcoming mayoral election and represents part of the Roosevelt Avenue Corridor, described Operation Restore Roosevelt as “performative policing.”
“Trafficking is still rampant, we still lack trash cans, and the City hasn’t made meaningful vending reforms. We need traffickers who are praying on vulnerable people arrested and prosecuted, and we need basic city services delivered. That’s the job of the mayor and he’s failed,” Ramos said in a statement last week.
Several community members also gathered on Roosevelt Avenue last week to protest against the continued operation of more than a dozen alleged brothels in the area. The demonstration, led by the Let’s Improve Roosevelt Ave. coalition, called for Operation Restore Roosevelt to be extended and called on the NYPD to padlock several alleged establishments.
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