Hiram Monserrate (center) speaks to the press during Thursday’s event. Photo: Shane O’Brien
Sept. 6, 2024 By Shane O’Brien
Community leaders and local business owners gathered Thursday afternoon to demand action against a rise in criminal organizations, drug rings, human trafficking, prostitution and shoplifting syndicates along Roosevelt Avenue.
The event, which took place at 90-20 Elmhurst Ave., was organized by former City Council Member Hiram Monserrate in response to a New York Post exposé about rising crime in the area.
Thursday’s press conference aimed to highlight the “plight” that residents and small business owners are enduring along the Roosevelt Avenue Corridor, which extends from 72nd Street to 104th Street and passes through Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights.
A number of speakers at Thursday’s event reported witnessing a rise in prostitution and shoplifting along Roosevelt Avenue, with small business owners stating that they no longer feel safe operating a business in the neighborhood.
Representatives of the healthcare industry added that ambulances often struggle to respond to calls due to the presence of dozens of unlicensed street vendors in the area.
Monserrate presented a five-point plan to improve the area at Thursday’s event, calling for a huge expansion of police officers in the area who will be permanently assigned to patrolling Roosevelt Avenue and the surrounding area.
He also called for the boundaries of local precincts to be reconfigured so that all of Roosevelt Avenue would be under the command of one police precinct. He additionally called for multiple agencies to be engaged on the avenue, including the Department of Sanitation and the FDNY.
Monserrate’s plan additionally called for the establishment of community-based partners who could promote the area’s beautification and provide intelligence to the NYPD and other agencies.
Finally, the plan called for an amendment to bail laws, stating that recidivist offenders should be processed through the system. A number of business owners reported being targeted by repeat offenders and stated that stolen merchandise is often sold on the sidewalks along the avenue.
Photo courtesy of Hiram Monserrate
Monserrate said expanding the number of police officers in the area is the most crucial element of the five-point plan, stating that constant vigilance is required to address the issues that the area is facing.
“Absolutely, you need more cops because you can’t do it without them,” Monserrate said. “Anyone who espouses policies or political statements saying they could do it with fewer cops is either lying or just not in control of the facts.”
“You need the police officers to come here to issue the sentences to confiscate whatever they’re going to confiscate, to arrest people when they have to arrest people.”
Monserrate said the lawlessness facing Roosevelt Avenue was “unprecedented” and said no place in New York City has been as negatively impacted by crime as the Roosevelt Avenue Corridor.
“We are here today to demand action from all of our authorities – that’s elected officials and the agencies, all of them,” Monserrate said. “We need a dramatic, permanent and consistent response to the issues that we are confronting.”
Ramon Ramirez, founder of the Let’s Improve Roosevelt Ave. Coalition, called for more arrests to be made for shoplifting offenses committed along the avenue.
“These people are not shoplifting because they are hungry,” Ramirez said. “This is a criminal money-making enterprise that includes the same stolen items being sold by unlicensed street vendors right here on Roosevelt Avenue and 91st Street. It must stop.”
Mireya Gutierra, the owner of Victory Pharmacy on Elmhurst Avenue, said she no longer feels safe operating a business in the community and added that her customers often have to endure intimidation from criminal organizations before entering her pharmacy.
“Why are they harassing us? They are impeding our business. They are damaging the community. They are impeding my patients from coming in and getting care.
“I have a large community of elderly people that are refusing to come into the pharmacy because they feel threatened.”
Gutierra also said increasing the number of police officers in the area was crucial to protect small businesses from shoplifting syndicates.
“We need more police presence,” Gutierra said. “When they see the police, they start running.”
Mireya Gutierra speaks during Thursday’s event. Photo: Shane O’Brien
Diana Klurfele, a healthcare worker who works along Elmhurst Avenue, said her patients also endure intimidation and harassment on their way to receive care.
“My patients cannot come through. They’ve been harassed,” Klurfele said. “Ambulances have refused to come here because this is all occupied with illegal street vendors.”
Ramses Frias, a community activist and former candidate for New York State Assembly District 39, said crime has been “running rampant” in the area for the past two years and said children are often approached by sex workers from brothels in the area.
“It just continues to get worse, and it seems like there’s no end to it,” Frias said. “The residents are frustrated. Everyone is tired of what’s happening here, and we’re coming together with business owners to let you see that this has to end immediately.
“We cannot continue to have this trend of what’s happening here happening every single day. We have children walking past brothels with women of the night constantly in their faces. Some of these women try to bring young gentlemen into their establishments.”
Marty Dolan, who challenged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primaries for New York’s 14th Congressional District earlier this year, said the rise in crime and unsocial behavior along Roosevelt Avenue has given New York a “black eye”.
Marty Dolan (right) speaks during Thursday’s press conference. Photo: Shane O’Brien
“When you have conditions like you have for this community, it’s a black eye for New York all over the world,” Dolan said. “Every part of New York City is New York City. It’s not just Manhattan. It’s not just the tourist areas.
“I would ask where are the so-called leaders of New York today? This is New York too. It’s not only Manhattan. It’s communities like this that make New York, and if one part of New York isn’t at its best, then we all have to work to make it its best.”
Monserrate ended Thursday’s event by pledging to host a rally in the near future demanding action be taken against lawlessness along Roosevelt Avenue.
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